Maturity helps Paulino get off to hot start

A second stint in the Northwest League has given Jose Paulino a chance to redeem himself. And being a year older, in pitching coach Brian Lawrence's opinion, has helped him get off to a dominant start.

"He's matured as a person," Lawrence said of the 21-year-old southpaw. "He's becoming accustomed with everything baseball has that he has to go through. He's grown stronger and also working harder. He has done that in Spring Training and extended [spring training]. He's working smarter as a pitcher, too, starting to do things that he probably wouldn't have done before, like recognizing swings and how to pitch to guys."

The Cubs prospect spun six one-hit innings Friday night as Class A Short Season Eugene blanked Everett, 5-0, in the first game of a doubleheader at Everett Memorial Stadium. He issued one walk and struck out four to lower his ERA to a 0.41 in four starts.

"He had a good, live fastball tonight and he was not afraid to pitch inside," Lawrence said. "His slider works really well off the fastball, and once we got the lead early there in the first inning, he kind of just went after it and challenged hitters and let them put it in play. He kept the pitch count down and was able to work through six."

The Emeralds put up three runs in the first against Everett starter and rehabbing Mariners southpaw Charlie Furbush who retired two batters. Paulino, who had to sit for a while before taking the mound, had one of his two blemishes on the night with a leadoff walk to Bryson Brigman.

"That didn't concern me," Lawrence said. "He's a strike-thrower overall. As far as the game plan is concerned, when you have a three-run lead and a long inning in the first, you don't want to walk the first guy and give the momentum back, but he was able to get through that and he pitched very well from there on."

Paulino allowed only one other AquaSox player to reach base against him as Ray Guerrini doubled with one out in the third. He exited after getting Nick Zammarelli to ground out in the sixth, wrapping up his third scoreless outing of the season.

Through 22 innings in his second stint with the Emeralds, the native of the Dominican Republic has allowed one earned run on 12 hits and two walks to go with 22 strikeouts. It's a reversal from the numbers Paulino posted last summer, when he went 4-6 with a 4.42 ERA in 12 games, including six starts.

"He's not necessarily doing more in his preparation this year," Lawrence said. "I think the stuff he's doing, he's just doing them the right way now, like making sure he does his running and lifting, preparing himself every time the best that he can. So it's not like he's going there adding more workload, he's just making sure that he's doing his work properly and being prepared."

Mark Malave struck out one in a clean seventh to finish up for Eugene, which got homers from Matt Rose and Wladimir Galindo.

The nightcap featured more of the same as Rose homered again in the Emeralds' 11-0 romp. Manuel Rondon (3-0) allowed four hits and two walks while fanning five over five innings and Enrique De Los Rio tossed two perfect frames to close out Eugene's league-leading fourth shutout.