Heating up, Reyes fans 11 for Redbirds

Alex Reyes' steps have come incrementally this season. First came his initial Triple-A outing on May 22. Then came the first time he made it through five innings five days later.

Then came Wednesday, the type of outing in which Reyes shines brightest.

The Cardinals' top prospect struck out 11 over six innings and picked up his first Triple-A win, allowing two runs on two hits, as Memphis edged visiting New Orleans, 3-2.

The Zephyrs had Reyes on the wrong end of the ledger early, a spot unfamiliar to the 21-year-old who had allowed just one earned run over his first nine innings this season. He plunked Zephyrs leadoff man Kenny Wilson in the first before surrendering a two-out, two-run homer to Matt Juengel. Reyes' response was simple.

"I just tried to give my team a chance to win," he said. "The only way I'm going to be able to do that is by settling down and focusing."

The right-hander struck out Brady Shoemaker to end the first, then fanned the side in the second to set the tone for his longest outing since going six shutout innings last Aug. 14 for Double-A Springfield.

"I had pretty good command of my breaking ball today and I feel like that was the reason for the jump in the strikeouts," he said. "My fastball and changeup were pretty much solid throughout the whole game. [Catcher] Mike [McKenry] did a great job mixing up those pitches and calling a great game."

Working with his veteran backstop, Reyes struck out the side again in the fourth and faced one batter over the minimum from the second through the fifth.

"Before the game, [McKenry] came up to me and spoke to me about what he wanted to do with certain hitters," he said. "We just went with what he had. He's a great guy. He's a great catcher, and the experience definitely is eye-opening."

MLB.com's No. 11 overall prospect ran into his final test in his last frame. Wilson walked to lead off the sixth and stole second to put himself in scoring position as the potential go-ahead run, but Reyes stranded him there, inducing a pair of groundouts around his 11th strikeout.

"When I have my breaking ball, it feels great because you have something else besides a fastball," he said. "These guys are pretty talented hitters and they can definitely handle the fastball, no matter how hard you throw. It just feels good to be able to throw the breaking ball in for strikes. For strike three, it's always great to be able to go to the curveball, fastball or changeup."

Reyes threw a season-high 97 pitches, 63 for strikes.

McKenry got his righty into the win column by sparking a rally in the bottom of the sixth. The former big leaguer tripled to right leading off the inning and scored on Matt Williams' subsequent infield single to short to give Memphis the lead for good.

In his first three outings, Reyes has posted a 1.80 ERA with 26 strikeouts against seven walks in 15 innings. The New Jersey native is limiting opponents to a .135 batting average and averaging 15.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Now with his first win wrapped up, Reyes has his mind set on how to continue his strong start.

"Be consistent with it," he said. "Go out there and do it again and work hard between starts. If you don't do that, you won't be prepared for your next start. Take it day by day, work on my fastball command again in my side session, my breaking ball, just try and keep everything sharp and hope for a good outing next time."

Ryan Sherriff pitched a hitless eighth and Juan Gonzalez struck out three over the final two innings to pick up his fourth save.