Six-time All-Star Zack Greinke became the seventh pitcher in Kansas City Royals franchise history to record 1,000 strikeouts with the club Tuesday night, in the Royals' 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Greinke struck out three, allowing four runs on ten hits in 5.1 innings pitched in the Royals' 5-4 victory.
With his 1,000th strikeout, Greinke also passed Tom Gordon on the all-time Royals' strikeout leaderboard. Greinke is now seventh on the all-time Royals' strikeout list.
The six Royals pitchers with more strikeouts than Greinke are Kevin Appier (1458), Mark Gubicza (1366), Dennis Leonard (1323), Bret Saberhagen (1093), Paul Splittorff (1057) and Danny Duffy (1048), in that order.
Greinke has now recorded 2,879 strikeouts in his career, as a member of six different teams, the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Houston Astros and the Royals.
Greinke was drafted by the Royals and spent his first seven big league seasons with the club, before being traded to the Brewers before the 2011 Major League Baseball season.
Over a decade later, at the age of 38, Greinke signed a one-year, $13 million contract to return to the team that drafted him, prior to the 2022 season.
In 24 starts in his first season back with the Royals, Greinke has a 4.21 ERA, 4-9 record and 1.39 WHIP through 124 innings pitched.
Greinke, 38, is set to become a free agent once again this winter, and has not announced any plans to retire.
Greinke has six All-Star appearances, six Gold-Glove awards, and was named the 2009 American League Cy Young.
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