KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Royals right-hander Zack Greinke decided to drop his appeal of a five-game suspension, which he began serving Sunday.
Greinke was given the suspension for hitting Nick Swisher of the Chicago White Sox with a pitch in the seventh inning on Aug. 3. Two innings earlier, both dugouts were warned after Royals catcher Miguel Olivo charged the mound in response to being hit by a pitch from D.J. Carrasco.
“They said more than likely I wouldn’t beat it, so there’s kind of no point to go through with it and that more than likely it would be a waste of time,” Greinke said Sunday.
Greinke said dropping the appeal is “not really” an admission of guilt.
“Even if you’re not guilty, the evidence is too strong against you to have a chance,” he said.
Greinke’s next scheduled start is Saturday against the New York Yankees and will give him six days between starts, instead of his normal four.
If Greinke had a hearing Friday, when the Royals open a three-game series at New York, and lost, he could have gone 11 days between starts.
“That’s probably why we dropped the appeal,” Greinke said. “So that the worse that could happen is what happens instead of 10 days. It probably won’t set me back too much.”
Greinke lost Saturday night to the Minnesota Twins, allowing nine hits and six runs, five earned, in five-plus innings.
“It doesn’t really surprise me,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said of Greinke opting not go through with his appeal. “It helps with the off day (Monday) because you can still get normal rest for the other guys. He in effect misses his turn, but we’ll just reschedule it.”
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