Miracle's Hu no longer a mystery man

Chih-Wei Hu may have fans saying "Who?" right now, but they won't be for much longer.

The Twins' No. 23 prospect tied a career high with 10 strikeouts and gave up two hits over seven innings Friday night, pitching Class A Advanced Fort Myers to a 5-0 blanking of St. Lucie.

Hu (1-0) walked one and faced three batters over the minimum in his second start of the season. The 21-year-old right-hander retired 10 straight batters after Mets' No. 7 prospect Amed Rosario singled with two outs in the second, a streak that ended when Matt Oberste drew a leadoff walk in the sixth.

"The big thing is right from the get-go he was attacking the strike zone," Miracle manager Jeff Smith said. "He used his fastball inside and a combination of a changeup and a palmball. Both pitches were working well down in the zone. He's got a four-pitch mix, he's got a [spike curveball], too. Big thing is he pitched inside. He kept attacking. I think he had strikeouts on all four of his pitches."

Hu made the jump to the Florida State League midway through last season after reaching the Midwest League. He also had a 10-strikeout game for Class A Cedar Rapids on July 26. There, the Taiwan native was 7-2 with a 2.29 ERA in 10 outings. Despite having thrown only 107 2/3 innings as a professional, Smith said there are no plans to limit Hu's workload.

"He's in our rotation down here and it's fun to watch him pitch," he said. "I get excited whenever he goes to the hill and it will be fun to see his development throughout the season.

"He's gonna be anywhere from 90-94 mph and he goes in and out of the zone. He has a good pitch mix and he can throw them any time in the count."

Tim Shibuya worked around a hit in the eighth and Twins No. 21 prospect J.T. Chargois worked a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up Fort Myers' second shutout of the season.

Jason Kanzler was 2-for-2 with a homer, double and two RBIs for the Miracle. It was his first long ball of the season after going hitless in his first 23 at-bats this season.

"We know he's gonna get out of it," Smith said. "He got a bunt single last night. He's been working extremely hard and I'm very proud of him for getting out of it. He's a very dynamic player."

Chad Christensen drove in a pair of runs, while Max Kepler -- Minnesota's 15th-ranked prospect -- scored twice for Fort Myers.

Marcos Molina (0-1), the Mets' No. 9 prospect, was tagged for six runs -- two earned on five hits while striking out six over five innings for St. Lucie.