Milone ties career high with 13 strikeouts

With almost 100 Major League starts under his belt, Tommy Milone could have been bitter about being sent to Triple-A Rochester instead of working through his struggles in Minnesota.

Instead, the left-hander appears to have taken the demotion as a personal challenge and he's not about to give up on getting back to "The Show."

Making just his sixth Minor League start in four years, Milone tied a career high with 13 strikeouts while going the distance in the Red Wings' 3-0 win over Durham at Frontier Field on Monday evening.

"The beginning of the game, you want to try to feel for the command," Milone said. "It was there early, so I was able to [pitch] in and out with fastballs and then mix in the curveball early. Didn't really use the changeup until later on in the game. It was kinda sparingly. The curveball was working good, so it's like one of those 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' kind of things, so I kept throwing it."

Milone scattered six hits over nine innings and threw 85 of 115 pitches for strikes in spinning the first complete game of his eight-year professional career. It marked the second time he has fanned 13, replicating the feat he achieved with Double-A Harrisburg against Erie on Aug. 18, 2010.

The 13 strikeouts were the most by a Red Wings hurler since Francisco Liriano fanned 13 on Aug. 4, 2005 against Buffalo.

Milone, who retired the final 11 batters he faced and didn't allow a ball to leave the infield after the sixth, struck out the side swinging in the second inning and recorded two strikeouts in the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth frames.

Only one Durham hitter reached third base against Milone, who improved to 3-0 with Rochester this season.

Selected by the Nationals in the 10th round of the 2008 Draft, Milone made his Major League debut with Washington in 2011. He went west to Oakland along with pitchers Brad Peacock and A.J. Cole and catcher Derek Norris in the deal that sent Gio Gonzalez and Rob Gilliam to the nation's capital on Dec. 23, 2011, and he has rarely looked back.

He pitched in two Pacific Coast League games for Sacramento in 2013 and began 2014 in Oakland's rotation. He made four Minor League starts with the River Cats after being sent down, prompting him to call for a trade. He was shipped to Minnesota in exchange for outfielder Sam Fuld and made one additional start for the Red Wings before moving into the Twins rotation.

Milone started 2015 with 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the White Sox on April 10 before surrendering 12 runs on 20 hits and nine walks over 15 innings in his next three starts. The Twins initially considered sending Milone to the bullpen to work in long relief, but later decided it would be prudent to keep him stretched out so he could be ready to rejoin the rotation when needed.

"The thing that's most impressive to me is that he's come here with his 'A' game and hasn't missed a beat. That doesn't always happen when a guy gets sent here after pitching up there for a while," Red Wings manager Mike Quade said. "And that's a tribute to him. He loves to pitch, he loves to compete, he's confident, all the things you're looking for.

"He locates extremely well and knows exactly what he wants to do. Very rarely do I watch him step off and think twice about a pitch. He's got a gameplan and he sticks to it. A lot of guys do, but then he executes with his command. He's fun to watch, that's for sure."

Since going down to Triple-A, Milone has been lights-out. He struck out eight batters over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in Louisville on May 8 and then fanned a dozen batters over eight three-hit innings last Wednesday against Toledo.

In his three starts, Milone has 33 strikeouts and only two walks while allowing just 14 hits over 23 1/3 shutout innings.