This time out, Hansen fans a baker's dozen

Alec Hansen wasn't satisfied after tossing five hitless innings in his last start. He kept the bar just as high in Sunday's outing with a career high in strikeouts.

The eighth-ranked White Sox prospect fanned a professional-best 13 batters while walking three and yielding a hit over six scoreless innings before Rookie-level Great Falls fell to Helena, 6-3, at Kindrick Legion Field.

The bulk of Hansen's frustration with his last start stemmed from his fastball command, which resulted in three walks and a pitch count that reached 85 in just five frames. The 21-year-old made shoring up that facet of his game a priority Sunday.

"In between his last start and this one, it was pretty much a bullpen of ... just fastball command," Voyagers pitching coach Matt Zaleski said. "He's a hard worker and it definitely shows, it pays off."

Hansen faced the minimum through the first three innings against the Brewers, then worked around a throwing error by third baseman Brady Conlan by striking out the side in the fourth. He fanned two more batters in the fifth before yielding his first hit, an infield single to shortstop by Trever Morrison in the sixth.

The 6-foot-7, 235-pound right-hander showed marked improvement with his fastball command, Zaleski said, as well as an impressive penchant for finishing off hitters.

"He was ahead of 12 hitters in either a 1-2 count or an 0-2 count, and he put them all away," the pitching coach said. "It was really impressive."

It marked the latest start of a dominant four-game stretch for the 2016 second-round pick. During that span, Hansen's allowed an unearned run on five hits with 10 walks and 38 strikeouts over 23 innings. The latter figure ranks second in the Minor Leagues since the start of August, one behind fifth-ranked Red Sox prospect Michael Kopech of Class A Advanced Salem.

Zaleski wasn't sure whether Hansen's run of success will result in a promotion before the end of the season. For now, he's just enjoying watching the Oklahoma University product go about his business.

"As long as he's with us, I'm just going to continue to work with him and try and develop him more," the coach said. "I know there's not much of the season left, so I'm not really sure what's going to happen. If he does [get promoted], obviously I hope he continue to work as hard as he did down here.

"He's gotten better with every start with his fastball command and his off-speed stuff. I'm very fortunate to see a talent like this and other pitchers on our staff grow."

Brandon Magallones (0-2) replaced Hansen in the seventh and allowed five runs on four hits without recording an out. He was tagged with the loss in Great Falls' follow-up to the circuit's first no-hitter in five years.

Catcher Casey Schroeder finished 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for the Voyagers.

Helena reliever Nash Walters (2-1) surrendered two unearned runs on a hit and three walks while fanning three over 1 2/3 frames. Colton Cross walked one and struck out three while recording the final four outs for his seventh save.

Brewers' No. 23 prospect Demi Orimoloye went yard.