Blue Rocks' Staumont fans career-high 12

The Minor League strikeout leader may have been pitching for the other side, but that didn't stop Josh Staumont from piling up the punchouts.

Kansas City's No. 17 prospect fanned a career-high 12 batters while allowing a run on three hits and three walks over five innings Monday as Class A Advanced Wilmington defeated Winston-Salem, 3-1, at Judy Johnson Field.

Six days after the Dash roughed up Staumont (2-6) for five runs on eight hits over five frames, the right-hander featured a new wrinkle in his changeup.

"All I did was kind of introduce that third pitch today and use it to my advantage," Staumont said. "Throwing it when it seemed like they were on the fastball. It allowed me to expand the zone when needed, especially in 1-2 or 0-2 [counts]."

Pairing the off-speed pitch with his upper-90s fastball proved devastating early on, allowing Staumont to record his first six outs via strikeout. The 2015 second-round pick stayed in control until Winston-Salem finally adjusted in the fifth.

After hitting Cleuluis Rondon with a pitch and giving up a single to Hunter Jones with one out, Staumont walked Gerson Montilla with two outs in the frame to load the bases. A walk to Nick Basto forced in a run, prompting the 22-year-old to take a moment to compose himself.

"I think the biggest thing is just trusting the fact that you know what to do in those situations," he said. "The biggest thing about it is trusting your stuff and knowing that when you're giving it all your effort, it's always in your favor as a pitcher."

Staumont struck out the next batter, Marcus Davis, to escape the jam. He threw 96 pitches, 56 for strikes.

Although the 2015 Draft second-round pick showed how overwhelming his stuff can be, he also continued to struggle with command. The California native has issued the third-most walks in the Minor Leagues with 47, and averages 8.2 over nine innings. He said control continues to be his biggest priority.

"You can never have too-good command, no matter how far you develop as a pitcher," Staumont said. "I think that is something we've been working on and slowly it will get better. There's going to be good and bad days with it, but hopefully the good days outweigh them.

"In the Minor Leagues it's always about coming at them and getting as many pitches in the zone as possible. In that regard, I would say attacking the hitters going forward is absolutely first and foremost."

Dash starter Matt Cooper (4-5) -- whose 95 strikeouts top the Minor Leagues -- gave up three runs on four hits and three walks while fanning three over five frames. Getting the better of the matchup provided Staumont a small measure of satisfaction.

"Undoubtedly [it makes it better]," the Azusa Pacific University product said. "He's a great pitcher. Hopefully I maybe strike out some more guys in the future. Pitching is such a coin flip. It seems half the time that one team is on and the other half they're having a tough day...As long as my team gets in a good position to win the game, I'm happy."

The Blue Rocks got an RBI single from Elier Hernandez in the first and a two-run homer from Alfredo Escalera in the third to account for their offense. Jake Newberry gave up a hit and struck out four over the final four innings en route to his first save.