Salem's Beeks picks up where he left off

Rain halted Jalen Beeks' chance to push his limits in his last start. On Saturday, he picked up where he left off.

"I felt like I had a decent start in my last outing, which I just tried to keep the ball rolling," Beeks said. "That start got rained out after I threw five, so I'm just trying to continue on doing that. I was a little different pitcher today and I had a lot of help with it."

The Red Sox prospect allowed one hit and one walk over six scoreless innings but did not factor in the decision as Class A Advanced Salem dropped a 2-1 decision to Wilmington at Judy Johnson Field at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium.

"I think my command was a lot better than recent starts," the 22-year-old southpaw said. "I've been working on it with my pitching coach, Paul Abbott. Everything is starting to get better. I just think I mixed pitches well tonight, which helped when I did miss with my command, so they weren't just sitting on that one pitch."

Beeks found his groove early and retired the 11 Blue Rocks.

"He was really good at mixing up his pitches," Wilmington second baseman Brian Bien said. "He established his fastball early on. He had some late life to it and was really hitting his spots and controlling the zone real well and controlling the game real well. He had a nice pace. We put some good swings on him and hit some good balls but right at people. But he did pitch really well."

The 2014 12th-round pick gave plenty of credit to his defense and said the difficult plays made by the likes of Red Sox No. 2 prospect Rafael Devers at third base and No. 17 prospect Nick Longhi at first helped him keep runners off the bases and put zeros on the board.

"We've got a really good defnese here," Beeks said. "I'm really not worried when they put the ball in play because we have a pretty good chance at getting the outs. It's also a little easier to pitch in the zone and not trying to strike everybody out, which helps with your pitch count later in games."

Quick outs helped Beeks conserve his pitches on Saturday as he retired 10 batters on three pitches or fewer.

"[The quick outs] helped completely," he said. "I got into a little bit of a rhythm, especially early in the game. I got a little tired later on, I guess, and my stuff started going up the zone, resulting in longer at-bats later in the game. But I think early on, being able to put the ball down in the zone and let them hit it into the ground and let my defense work really saved some energy and let me go a little deeper in the game."

Saturday's outing was an encouraging sign for the Arkansas native, but Beeks said he understands there are plenty of other areas he still needs to work on with Abbott.

"There have been a couple of things," Beeks said. "With my front arm, I get twisted a little bit when I have my back to the plate. It causes me to spin off, and I still did that a little bit today. It got better, but it's still not where I want it to be. We've been working on my finish, and I think I did better with that today. I just need to continue working on that and whatever he tells me because he's been there."

Beeks exited after 90 pitches to make way for Ben Taylor (0-2), who surrendered two runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter in the seventh.

Colin Rogers (2-4) workd 2 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win in relief after Blue Rocks starter Corey Ray limited the Red Sox to a run on six hits with four strikeouts in 6 2/3 frames.

Longhi provided Salem's offense with a leadoff homer in the fourth.