April 19, 2015: Shane Greene
After a solid rookie season for the Yankees last season, Shane Greene has gone crazy to start the season with the Tigers this year. Greene gave up his first earned run yesterday against the White Sox, but still gave up just the one in 7 innings. This was his third straight start going at least 7 innings while giving up no more than 5 hits and 1 earned run. Just two of his fourteen starts last season fit into that category.
Greene is the 6th pitcher since 2000 to start a season with three such starts, with Matt Harvey in 2013 and Roger Clemens in 2005 managing it four times. Interestingly, Greene’s strikeouts are well-down compared to last year. After striking out 9.27 batters per 9 last year, he’s struck out just 4.30 this year. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain low strikeouts and high success or if something will need to change.