Wilk makes quick work of two-hit outing

At 28, Adam Wilk understands he's not going to catch any of his opponents by surprise anymore.

"The book is out on me that I throw a lot of strikes," he said. "I think hitters don't want to get in the box and get down in the count on pitches they know are strikes. They came in with a plan to attack me early, and I was just able to locate my pitches and induce some weak contact."

The Tampa Bay southpaw allowed two hits over eight innings Monday in Triple-A Durham's 5-0 blanking of Buffalo at Coca-Cola Field. He struck out four and didn't issue a walk on 77 pitches.

"I felt my command was pretty good," Wilk said. "I think [catcher] Luke [Maile] and myself had a good game plan. I was able to throw a lot of strikes early in the count, and not only that, I was able to throw in the right spots in the strike zone."

He retired his first seven batters before allowing a double to Junior Lake. An inning later, Jesus Montero belted a two-bagger against the Long Beach State University product, but that was it for the Bisons under Wilk's watch.

"Pretty much everything was working," he said. "I didn't throw a whole lot of pitches. I was able to command pitches to both sides of the plate, the sinker was working and I was able to elevate with my fastball when I needed to."

Wilk exited after throwing 54 of his pitches for strikes. The outing came on the heels of a start in which he struck out a career-high 10 while allowing one run on four hits over seven innings against Norfolk on June 8.

"It was the same idea of just going after hitters," he said. "I think I only threw around 80 pitches in that start, so that was also extremely efficient. I just had to get ahead early and put hitters away when I had the chances to."

Wilk picked up just his second win of the season despite posting a 2.97 ERA. In four of his six losses, the California native didn't give up more than two earned runs. But on Monday, the Bulls had a five-run lead by the sixth.

"That's the big thing, at the Triple-A level, pitchers are extremely good," Wilk said. "You're not facing chumps anymore. I kind of joke around with my teammates that I've just been pitching on the wrong days because there have been times that days after I pitched, we put up nine or 10 runs. Wins and losses aren't necessarily the most important facts in Minor League Baseball. You just try to go out and throw up zeros as much as you can and keep your team in the game."

Wilk, who has made nine appearances in the Majors since 2011 with the Tigers and the Angels, is trying to work his way back with his fourth organization, after signing with the Rays as a free agent in January.

"Obviously, you can tell by the stat sheet that I've thrown a lot of innings in Triple-A," he said. "The motivation is getting to the highest competition and that is the big leagues. A lot of factors are out of my control, but I just have to keep pitching well and make myself available if the call does come. Everybody wants to pitch in the big leagues, that's motivation enough."

Steve Geltz allowed one hit while closing out the ninth while J.P. Arencibia paced the offense with a homer and two RBIs.