In the second inning on Thursday—in Houston’s decisive ALDS win over Oakland—Zack Greinke did something that he has been doing all season: He gave his own sign with a runner on second. He flashed two fingers, and then threw a slider to Ramón Laureano, who promptly took him deep.
Greinke has done this for months now. With a runner on second, he’ll show a sign himself, instead of leaving that responsibility to his catcher. (Once, rather than signaling with his fingers, he simply called the pitch out loud.) Greinke’s claimed that he does this to speed the game along: “I don’t like taking a long time with a man on second base especially,” he told MLB.