JUPITER, Fla. -- For the first time since he carried a shutout into the seventh inning in Game 7 of the World Series -- a game the Nationals rallied to win, 6-2, for their first championship -- Astros right-hander Zack Greinke started a game on Friday, allowing one unearned run in two innings while striking out three batters in Houston’s 6-4 win over the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium.

Greinke, who showed up to camp six days ago, said he was working on location during his 28-pitch outing (22 strikes). The command wasn’t bad, he said, but he’s going to look for more consistency as the Grapefruit League schedule progresses.

“I’m hoping to get the slider a little better,” Greinke said. “It felt pretty good today. More importantly, I don’t want my other pitches to get worse.”

This is Greinke’s first spring camp with the Astros -- and first in Florida for that matter -- and those who know him have told new manager Dusty Baker that Greinke seems more comfortable around his new teammates this year than he did last year. Greinke didn’t balk at that notion.

“So far, Spring Training has been pretty nice,” he said. “Most people talk more in the spring than they do in the middle of the year when there’s lots of stuff going on.”

Solid debut for James
The changes that hard-throwing righty Josh James has made to his mechanics showed well in his first outing of the spring on Friday, when he threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. James, who’s in competition for the fifth starting spot, is working on being more “linear," meaning a more direct delivery from the mound to the plate.

“It’s coming along really well,” said James, who threw 20 of his 25 pitches for strikes and hit 97 mph on the radar gun.

James said his goal this offseason is to be in the zone more and attack hitters and not give up hits. The challenge now is to keep building on what he did Friday as his pitch count rises throughout the spring. Can he keep his delivery in line for five, six innings?

“It’s going to be from outing to outing,” he said. “I’m going to have my ups and downs, but the key is to keep working on the stuff I implemented and not shy away from it, especially if I go out and have a rough one. That could very well happen. I just have to stick to the process and what I’ve been working on, and it’ll come along.”

Up next
Left-hander Framber Valdez will make his second start of the spring at 12:05 p.m. CT on Saturday against the Mets as he continues his push to land the final spot in Houston's starting rotation. Valdez struck out three over two scoreless innings in his spring debut. The game can be heard live on Gameday Audio.