PHOENIX (Reuters) - Former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke will miss the start of the Milwaukee Brewers' season after breaking a rib playing basketball, the team said.
Greinke, who likely would have been the Brewers' opening day starter, fractured a rib on his left side when he fell while going for a rebound in a pickup game last month, the Brewers said on their website (http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com).
The fracture was discovered during an examination this week of the 27-year-old right-hander, who won the 2009 Cy Young Award as a member of the Kansas City Royals.
Greinke is expected to miss at least the first two or three starts of the regular season.
The Brewers, who acquired Greinke from the Royals in December, open the season March 31 at Cincinnati.
"I've been doing this for a couple years now," Greinke said of his basketball playing.
"People are always saying, 'You're going to get hurt.' It finally caught up to me."
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina. Editing by Steve Ginsburg)
