Bees' Gatto experiences a whiff of success

When Joe Gatto finished Friday night's outing, encouragement from Class A Burlington pitching coach Jairo Cuevas came with a little bit of an edge.

"He said that tonight was the way it should have been the whole season. And he's 100 percent right," the Angels' No. 6 prospect said. "It's a good start to build off, and I'm excited to see what I can do in my next start and the ones after that."

Gatto punched out a career-high 11, allowed one hit and walked four over five scoreless innings, but the Bees fell to the TinCaps, 7-5 at Fort Wayne. He remains winless in five Midwest League starts, but lowered his ERA from 7.11 to 5.63.

"For the first few games so far, I've been struggling. I thought the first one was pretty good, but the next three I really struggled in the first inning," Gatto said. "I tried to switch it up mentally, to just keep attacking hitters. It [stinks] that we didn't win, but it was a big step in my development."

A step forward wasn't a guarantee from the outset. The 20-year-old right-hander, who's taking his first crack at full-season ball after being drafted out of a New Jersey high school in the second round in 2014, opened by walking leadoff man and Padres No. 4 prospect Ruddy Giron.

"I started off my last three outings with the first hitter getting a hit or a walk or doing something," Gatto said. "Tonight, I had a better mentally competitive game. That could have easily spun out of control, but I kept telling myself I was going to get out of it.

"The first few [starts], it went: 'Get down early, get hit early.' Then it was, 'OK, what do I do to get back in this?' Tonight, I lost that whole game plan. Everything felt good [physically], but more or less it was just: 'This is my night. Do your best, but I'm going to keep attacking,' and that kind of mentality."

Gatto struck out the next two and got a flyout to leave Giron on first, then fanned the side in order in the second. At that point, he knew he was having a good night.

"It was my whole approach. I was able to get ahead, and that's been a struggle for me. Once I was ahead, I got an idea what the hitters were like," he said, adding, "Michael Gettys is a friend of mine -- I've played with him and played against him a couple times. Once I got through the lineup once, I felt like I could see how those guys are going through their at-bats. I felt confident that I knew what the hitters were looking for."

But after opening the fourth by fanning Gettys -- the Padres' 10th-ranked prospect -- for a second time, Gatto ran into trouble. He walked two straight, got another punchout, then walked the bases loaded. Jhonatan Pena struck out, also for a second time, to end the threat.

"I didn't help myself. When you walk three, you can't expect [to get out of the inning without giving up a run]," Gatto said. "I did that myself, so it was like, 'OK, I have to get myself out of it.'"

Gatto laughed off a messy fifth -- a throwing error by second baseman Brendon Sanger put Kodie Tidwell aboard to start the inning, and third baseman Hutton Meyer's throwing error on a bunt single by Rod Boykin sent Tidwell to third. Although it didn't bother him, the righty said he knew that Boykin's hit was the only one he had given up.

"It was just a funny inning. I got a ground ball and my buddy threw it away," Gatto said. "There was nothing wrong or anything -- I was laughing because we were doing good, and when you're cruising like that, the little things don't bother you. A no-hitter or whatever, that's great, but as long as we get out of it, you're happy. I was more or less smiling the whole time."

Gatto threw 93 pitches -- 55 for strikes -- but said he didn't seem fatigued when he exited after five frames.

"On one of the times I walked a guy, I thought, 'That's probably a lot of pitches I've thrown,' " he said. "It was the most I've thrown this year. There were a good amount of fans, and the adrenaline takes over a little bit in that scenario. You don't necessarily feel it. We'll see how I feel it tomorrow, though. I'm sure I'll be a little sore."

The TinCaps' Ty France was 2-for-4 with a walk, three RBIs and a run scored. His two-run base knock in the seventh fueled the decisive six-run rally.