By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published May 10, 2011 at 5:31 AM Photography: David Bernacchi

Since news first broke that Zack Greinke was traded to Milwaukee, Brewers fans had been waiting for the right-hander to hurl strikes for the Brewers at Miller Park.

Finally, Monday – 143 days after the deal was completed – the wait was over.

Though not quite the frenzied sellout that greeted CC Sabathia upon his arrival in summer 2008, an announced crowd of 27,058 waved white "rally towels" and welcomed Greinke with a standing ovation as he took to the mound for the first time.

"I usually don't notice the fans too much but having them there today was real nice and got me extra excited, especially early on," Greinke said. "It was great. I was real impressed."

He didn't disappoint, striking out two of the first three batters he faced. Greinke went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and finished with six strikeouts and no walks as the Brewers beat San Diego, 4-3.

Looking much more like the pitcher who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 than the one who struggled through four innings last week in his 2011 debut, Greinke threw 59 of his 89 pitches for strikes and rarely found himself in trouble – only twice reaching a three-ball count – while topping out at 95 on the radar gun.

"From the first batter on today, that's as hard as I've seen him go," said manager Ron Roenicke, who saw plenty of Greinke while serving as the Angels' bench coach. "It was a good outing. (He had) some good breaking stuff ... some really nice change-ups and he really spotted his fastball well."

After mowing through the Padres' lineup the first five innings, Greinke finally got into a bit of a jam in the sixth. He gave up a leadoff triple to Will Venable on an 0-2 fastball. Venable scored a single to Jason Bartlett, cutting the score to 3-2.

Greinke worked out of the jam, though, getting Ryan Ludwick to fly out to center and Chase Headley to ground into a force at second before striking out Brad Hawpe on a 93-mile per hour fastball to end the inning, and his day.

"I still felt good but my stuff got a little worse," Greinke said. "I just started getting behind."

Roenicke didn't have a hard pitch limit on Greinke Monday and though he doesn't plan to do so in his next few starts, he also doesn't think Greinke is at full strength for this point in the season after making just three minor league and two MLB starts.

"If everything went really smooth, we would have let him get up to 100 pitches," Roenicke said. "I think the way Zack went after it, really from the first batter, he didn't let up on anything. I think with the effort he put into it from the first batter on, we thought finishing at 89 pitches was a good outing for him."

The nature of the game, Roenicke said, will dictate how deep Greinke works. Greinke himself admits he's not 100 percent there yet.

"I'm a little tired today," Greinke said. "The last game, the last inning, I started to get worse. This game, I got a little worse as the game (went on). Hopefully, the next start, it'll be even better but it might take a couple games until I can throw 110 pitches every game and be strong the whole time."

Greinke was the centerpiece of the Brewers' off-season efforts to rebuild a pitching staff that languished near the bottom of just about every National League category a year ago.

Acquired from Kansas City in a six-player trade, Greinke was expected to be the Opening Day starter but was sidelined during spring training when it was discovered that he had broken a rib during a pickup basketball game.

He finally made his debut last week at Atlanta, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits in four innings of work as the Brewers fell to the Braves, 8-0, in the second game of a double-header.

Like the Brewers fans, his teammates were looking forward to returning home and seeing Greinke on the mound at Miller Park – one of the final pieces of a roster puzzle decimated by injuries this season.

"In Atlanta, we were excited," first baseman Prince Fielder said. "Even though we didn't win the game, he still had pretty good stuff. Now, though, you can see he's really ready."

Greinke's next start is scheduled for Sunday, when the Brewers wrap up a three-game series with Pittsburgh at Miller Park.