Franco bounces back in Hot Rods' win

For Enderson Franco, it wasn't the stars that aligned on Saturday but his own body.

The Rays prospect gave up three hits over seven scoreless innings as Class A Bowling Green shut down South Bend, 4-1, at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Franco (3-1) struck out two and walked one in his fifth start for the Hot Rods. The 22-year-old right-hander set down the first seven batters before David Bote drew a one-out walk in the third.

"His fastball command, end of story," pitching coach Bill Moloney said of the key to Franco's success. "Fastball command was good tonight and everything worked off that. He threw his changeup, he threw his slider, they all just played off the fastball. He got ahead with the fastball."

Franco was coming off his worst outing of the season, giving up five runs on 10 hits over six innings on May 3 against Lansing. Moloney was quick to dismiss the notion that it was a bad start and made sure to get the point across to the Venezuela native.

"That five-run start wasn't that bad and I tried to impress that on him. There were a lot of soft hits," he said. "It could've been worse; he did a great job of minimizing the damage. We talked about alignment and it paid off tonight. It's a straight line to home plate as opposed to pitching across your body."

Franco has won three straight decisions and lowered his ERA to 3.21. After pitching exclusively in the New York-Penn League last summer, Moloney said he needs to keep things simple to continue adjusting to full-season ball.

"First-year guys, basically get them some innings," Moloney said. "Work on their secondary pitches. Make all your starts and stay healthy. You cross your fingers with that because you never know."

Damion Carroll followed Franco and allowed a run while walking five over 1 1/3 hitless innings. Brian Miller recorded the final two outs to notch his third save.

Rays No. 11 prospect Nick Ciuffo went 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while Riley Unroe singled home a run for the Hot Rods.

Cubs starter Ryan Williams fell to 2-1 after giving up four runs -- two earned -- on eight hits over six innings. He struck out six without issuing a walk.