Rome's Toussaint unhittable for six innings

It's been exactly a month since Touki Toussaint found out he was being traded across the country on his 19th birthday.

"It doesn't feel like a month, it feel like two weeks ago I got traded," the right-hander said. "But I'm with a great bunch of guys trying to make a playoff run, I can't even tell you what it feels like."

Toussaint's first month in the Braves organization has been full of ups and downs. He turned in arguably his worst start of the season five days ago, but found his comfort zone Monday, when the Braves' No. 4 prospect pitched six hitless innings and struck out a career-high eight batters as Class A Rome fell to Lakewood, 4-0, in 11 innings.

He threw 48 of his 85 pitches for strikes in his fifth start since the trade from Arizona. The Florida native walked four batters but used timely strikeouts to limit trouble, exiting after pitching six innings for the sixth time this season.

"Just threw fastballs for strikes," Toussaint said. "I fell behind sometimes, but stuck with it. We've been working on the side and on my tempo and sometimes I rush and I just need to step off. I need to throw strikes, make them hit it."

The gem came just days after he allowed six runs over five innings in a July 15 loss to Charleston. He said he didn't change his approach entering the start Monday.

"I just stuck with the game plan, I didn't do anything differently," Toussaint said. "I trusted my stuff, everything we've been working on, and just let it roll."

Daniel Cordero came on and pitched a pair of scoreless innings, allowing Lakewood's first hit to Cord Sandberg in the seventh. Brad Roney kept the shutout alive into the 11th, when BlueClaws second baseman Scott Kingery hit a go-ahead three-run homer off Mitchell Osnowitz for Lakewood's second hit and the lead. Kyle Martin made it back-to-back shots with his second homer moments later.

"They're a whole bunch of competitors," Toussaint said. "Roney comes out with two scoreless, Cordero gave up one hit, two scoreless. Ozz felt into some trouble, but I'm not even worried about it. It was fun to watch."

For Toussaint, the start was his best since the D-backs shipped him and veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo to Atlanta for infielder Phil Gosselin on June 20. Toussaint was MLB.com's No. 83 overall prospect at the time of the deal -- he is now No. 78 and No. 4 in the Braves' system.

He made his Braves debut on June 28, walking five batters after not pitching for 10 days. He rebounded by allowing one hit over five innings against Charleston on July 4 in a start that ended early due to rain. Toussaint held Augusta to three runs over five innings for a win on July 9 before his loss to Charleston.

On Monday, he worked around a leadoff walk in the first, pitched a 1-2-3 second and issued a two-out free pass in the third. Lakewood went down in order in the fourth before center fielder Jiandido Tromp drew a one-out walk and stole second in the fifth, but was left stranded. Toussaint pitched around a fourth walk to Drew Stankiewicz and another stolen base in the sixth, popping up Martin to right to end his evening.

"I didn't even notice [the no-hitter], I was trying to just go the whole game and get us the win," he said. "It felt like I gave up hits, I walked four. But I'm used to [pitching with] runners on, we practice all the time. You practice it. I made quality pitches and made them hit ground balls and used my defense."

Rome had a chance for a walk-off win in the 10th inning when Joe Daris singled and tried to tag up from third on a fly ball to center, but Tromp -- a day after a seven-RBI effort -- threw him out at the plate to end the inning.

So after a month, what's it been like to switch organizations and play under new managers and coaching philosophies? Toussaint kept it simple, although he said the South Atlantic League is "a bit more of an advanced hitters league" compared to the Midwest.

"I'd say the D-backs are the D-backs and the Braves are the Braves," he laughed.