"Jonathan Lucroy caught Zack Greinke for the first time Monday night.

And he can't wait to do it again.

"I'm laughing because it was a lot of fun," the Milwaukee Brewers catcher said Monday night while answering questions about Greinke's first start at Miller Park, which culminated in a 4-3 victory over San Diego.

Lucroy didn't catch Greinke during the exhibition season because both were injured and didn't play in Arizona. And when the Brewers' prize off-season acquisition made his 2011 debut last Wednesday in the second game of a doubleheader in Atlanta, backup Wil Nieves was behind the plate.

So, as Lucroy began calling pitches - using his index finger primarily in the early going to signal fastball - he realized the 27-year-old right-hander was something special.

"The best I can compare him to is Yovani Gallardo, with a little more deception," said Lucroy. "It's just real live; it's electric; it's moving. And he has four pretty good pitches, and throws them all for strikes.

"It's special to catch somebody like that. If he's on like that every game, it's going to be fun. It was electric, man."

Manager Ron Roenicke originally planned to let Greinke throw around 100 pitches. But when he saw the energy level that his pitcher displayed from the outset, Roenicke decided it best to pull the plug after six innings and 89 pitches, only three more than his first outing in Atlanta.

"With the effort he put into it from the first batter on, we felt letting him finish with 89 pitches was a good thing," said Roenicke. "I saw him in the other league, and from the first batter on today, that's as hard as I've seen him go."

Greinke admitted to getting a bit amped by the reception of the 27,058 on hand, Zack Greinke rally towels in hand."