Newcomb's aggressive approach pays off

Sean Newcomb doubled down in an aggressive mentality for Tuesday night's start, and it paid off.

"It was my game plan to attack, and if they hit it in play, just hope I get outs," the Angels' top prospect said. "It's something I definitely want to be consistent with. I want to go with this approach in the rest of my starts this year."

The 22-year-old left-hander allowed three hits and struck out eight while walking one over six innings to match his longest start as a pro in Class A Advanced Inland Empire's 5-0 blanking of Lake Elsinore.

"I just attacked with the fastball early," Newcomb said. "I was able to get to my off-speed later on and just execute on my stuff, and that carried me through."

The 2014 first-round pick improved to 6-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.47 in 13 California League starts. He's his last three decisions after going 1-0 with a 1.87 ERA in seven starts for Class A Burlington in April and May.

Two of the three hits Newcomb gave up in his latest gem were doubles -- Gabriel Quintana logged the Storm's first knock with a two-out double in the second and Padres No. 21 prospect Nick Torres clubbed another with two down in the fourth.

"One was a changeup that I left a couple inches up and [Quintana] just stuck his bat out and had it go over the third baseman's head," said Newcomb, MLB.com's No. 24 overall prospect. "The next was a good hit. And the left fielder was playing over a little bit, so there wasn't really much we could do about it."

The University of Hartford product retired the next five batters, striking out three. Felipe Blanco broke the string with a single up the middle leading off the sixth.

"Definitely getting a leadoff hit gives you a little more adrenaline and made me a little irritated," Newcomb said. "I wasn't happy about it, but I knew I could use that to help me get through the inning."

He retired the next three batters on 10 pitches, putting him at 91 -- including 61 strikes -- on the night. Newcomb said he was optimistic about the possibility of returning to the mound for the seventh.

"I was hoping so," the Massachusetts native said, "but the last couple starts, I've been up above 100 [pitches]. You might as well go out on a strong note and let the good bullpen take over the rest the game."

Harrison Cooney worked around two walks over two innings and Geoff Broussard worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish off the 66ers' third shutout of the season.

Mike Fish went 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base, an RBI and a run scored for Inland Empire, while Andrew Daniel doubled twice and drove in two runs.