The 18-year-old left-hander combined with relievers Freddy Rodriguez and John Walter to toss a one-hitter in Rookie-level Burlington's 5-0 win over Greeneville.

The B-Royals starter allowed the Astros' only hit in the fifth inning and finished with three strikeouts and two walks in five frames of work. Rodriguez and Walter each threw two hitless innings to secure the win -- the team's seventh straight overall and 11th straight at Burlington Athletic Stadium.

With the victory, Rodgers improved to 3-0 with a 0.73 ERA, best in the Appy League. All three wins have come in his last three outings, during which he's owned a 16-inning scoreless streak and allowed only two hits and three walks.

The bulk of those results have come from just one pitch.

"It's mainly been my fastball," said the Louisiana native. "I just try to work both sides of the plate with it as much as I can and then use the changeup maybe to keep guys off balance. I didn't have my curveball tonight because I couldn't get it down after it started raining [in the middle of the game]."

But the Royals did select Rodgers in the third round of this year's First-Year Player Draft because of his ability to mix his trio of pitches.

At this point, he estimates he throws the heater "60 to 70 percent" of the time. But to keep hitters honest, he'll throw in a changeup on 1-0, 2-0 or 1-1 count when batters are looking for a fastball. When it's on, he'll try bouncing the curveball -- a plus pitch normally -- for swings and misses.

Even with that solid repertoire, Rodgers acknowledged he couldn't have predicted this level of success in his first professional season.

"No, I never knew it would be like this," he said. "I'm not really sure what I expected. Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I'm just trying to get guys out. ... I didn't know how good the competition was going to be, other than a little better than it would have been in college. Once I got guys out, I just got more and more confident."

That being said, Rodgers and the B-Royals couldn't have accomplished Monday's one-hitter without help from his two bullpen arms. Rodriguez walked and fanned two in his two innings while Walter fanned three over the final two.

"They did a great job," Rodgers said. "I didn't get to see the sixth and the seventh because I was in getting my postgame work in. But when I came out and saw everything was the same on the scoreboard, I was really impressed."

On the offensive end, Royals' top prospect Bubba Starling hit a two-run homer. The center fielder owns a .267/.389/.507/.896 batting line with four home runs, 15 RBIs and 27 K's in his first 19 games.

"I really like Bubba," Rodgers said. "He's a good teammates, a great guy and a great role model who works hard at everything. He can really hit the ball hard, and I know he's had his ups and downs, but everyone's improving, and I know he will too."

Thanks to Starling's blasts and Rodgers' gems, the Royals' win streak has them atop the East Division at 21-8, the best record in the Appy League.

That comes as no surprise to the squad's ace.

"We have great team chemistry," said Rodgers. "We've really come together as a team here in the last few weeks. Our pitchers throw strikes, we trust the bullpen and the defense is making some outstanding plays. And the bats are coming along and winning us some games late too."