Travelers' Scribner keeps putting up zeros

Six weeks ago, Troy Scribner took his first loss of the year for Double-A Arkansas after allowing four runs over five innings in a matchup with Tulsa. On Friday night, he got his redemption.

In his third straight scoreless effort, the right-hander went a season-high 6 2/3 innings, scattering two hits and four walks while striking out eight Friday night as the Travelers blanked the Drillers, 1-0, at Dickey-Stephens Park.

"The Drillers are tough," the Angels prospect said. "They've got a lot of guys that can swing, so we took special care, me and my catcher [Stephen McGee] and my pitching coach [Scott Budner], before the game to go over the scouting reports and have a solid plan in place for when we went out there. We stuck to the plan all night, and I was able to execute."

Scribner's first start against the Drillers back on May 5 was just his second outing of the year after he was acquired from the Astros on March 26. But the lessons from that night stuck with him.

"The first time I faced them, I didn't know much about them, so I made some mistakes in that game that I don't forget about," the Connecticut native said. "Six weeks later or six months later, it's not going to matter. I'm going to remember what the guy did off me, and we kind of made adjustments off of that."

Friday night, the righty worked around two-out walks in the first and third innings and a one-out single to right by Alex Verdugo in the fourth. After facing the minimum in the fifth and sixth, he was cruising.

"Every time you have baserunners on, it's always a challenge to not let them score and reduce damage," he said. "The more and more times you actually get through an inning like that, your confidence builds when you have guys in scoring position or guys on base. That builds up. You start getting comfortable with guys on second or guys on first. Our catchers are so freaking good at throwing guys out, I don't even worry about guys on first anymore."

Scribner hadn't pitched past the sixth inning all season but quickly notched the first two outs of the seventh before walking Dodgers No. 5 prospect Cody Bellinger.

"Me and Bellinger were trying to outthink each other the whole night," he said. "I didn't execute the last couple pitches I threw to him as well as I should have, and he took a good couple pitches. It just goes one way or the other sometimes, and that time I lost him."

A free pass to Paul Hoenecke followed, bringing an end to Scribner's night.

"I think when [Bellinger] got on first, it kind of all hit me," the pitcher said. "I had my momentum and it kind of went away after the walk to Bellinger. That last guy, I was trying as hard as I could to get the last one out, and I couldn't find the plate. I was out of gas."

With the Travelers clinging to a 1-0 lead, thanks to Eric Aguilera's RBI triple in the fifth, Scribner handed the ball to former big leaguer Josh Roenicke.

"You've got a guy like Josh Roenicke chasing you out of the bullpen, and you feel pretty good about your situation," he said. "That guy's been around for a long time and he knows what he's doing. He's really, really good, so I had a lot of trust in him. He makes it look so easy, but there was definitely some pacing and some nerves when I got pulled."

Roenicke retired pinch-hitter Lars Anderson on a groundout and combined with bullpen mates Edward Paredes and Alan Busenitz to finish off the shutout.

Scribner (5-3) threw 68 of a season-high 105 pitches for strikes and tallied seven groundouts against three in the air. It was the second straight win for the Sacred Heart product, who hasn't allowed a run since June 1 while lowering his ERA from 6.25 to 3.96.

"It feels like I'm finally coming together as the pitcher that I knew I could be previous in my career," Scribner said. "I'm starting to find the little parts of my game that I knew were there but weren't always able to execute or be consistent. I think it's all kind of finally coming together, and I'm starting to mature a little bit."