Yarbrough dazzles in front of family, friends

It's been a while since Ryan Yarbrough got a chance to have a big family gathering at one of his games, so when about a dozen of those closest to him made the trip to watch him on Friday, he turned in an outing that was worth the trip.

"My parents come when they can, but probably my senior year of college was when a lot of family were able to make it," Yarbrough said. "Some of them are from Lakeland, some from the St. Petersburg area or a little farther south from that. Just to have them here was great, and to able to throw well in front of them made it even better. It was definitely special."

The Mariners' No. 13 prospect yielded three hits and struck out five over scoreless innings in Double-A Jackson's 11-1 rout of Jacksonville at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, about three hours from his hometown of Lakeland.

"It feels good, it's definitely something to take in toward the end of the season," Yarbrough said. "It's definitely something to motivate you to keep having outings like that and try to finish strong."

The 24-year-old left-hander faced the minimum through six innings while allowing one hit. Marlins No. 4 prospect Brian Anderson led off the second with a single but was erased when Alex Glenn grounded into a double play.

"My command was really good, especially on the fastball," Yarbrough said. "I was able to work it in and out to both righties and lefties. I didn't have to throw as many changeups today, so I was just able to pound with the fastball and get through the order the first and second time."

A pair of two-out singles in the seventh tested the Old Dominion product, but he got Glenn to ground out to short to pitch through the seventh for the first time in more than two months.

"It was good to get over that hump," Yarbrough said. "There have definitely been kind of stranger parts of the season where you're not going to have the best stuff and just kind of have to battle through it, but today was just one of those days where everything kind of clicked. So hopefully, I can take that into the next couple of outings and see where it goes from there."

Coincidentally, it was the third seven-inning, three-hit outing this season for the 2014 fourth-round pick. He turned in similar starts on April 30 against Mobile and on May 23 against Chattanooga.

"I remember when I was icing in the locker room and the game was going on and the announcer mentioned that," the Southern League All-Star said. "I was thinking about it like, 'Wow, that's kind of crazy.' They are all pretty much the same things and just kind of strange. It's nothing I would think about unless you look at the stuff on paper, which is pretty crazy, but it's definitely a cool thing."

At 10-4, Yarbrough is tied for the second-most wins in the Southern League along with Marlins No. 10 prospect Jake Esch, who opposed him on Friday for the Suns. Montgomery's Taylor Guerrieri leads the circuit with 11.

Forrest Snow allowed one run on two hits while striking out one over the final two innings for Jackson.

Benji Gonzalez and Tim Lopes paced the Generals offense with three hits apiece, with Gonzalez driving in two runs and scoring twice.

Esch (10-8) surrendered four runs on seven hits and three walks with one strikeout over 3 1/3 innings.