Biscuits' Honeywell shines in pitchers' duel

For a pitcher who's best known for throwing a screwball, it was Brent Honeywell's fastball that stole the show on Friday night.

The Rays' second-ranked prospect allowed four hits and struck out five without issuing a walk over six scoreless innings in Double-A Montgomery's 2-1 loss at Chattanooga at AT&T Field.

"Tonight was probably his best start since he's been with us," Biscuits manager Brady Williams said. "His fastball commitment tonight was the best I've seen from him. He's got good secondary pitches and he used his screwball early in the count, and that helped his fastball play better as at-bats went on, but he really committed to his fastball tonight and that's why he pitched as well as he did."

After allowing a leadoff single in the first to Zach Granite, Honeywell found a rhythm and retired seven in a row until Engelb Vielma tagged him for another base knock with one out in the third. 

"Not everybody is hunting heaters at this level," Honeywell said. "They can all hit the fastball if it's not going well, so to have the fastball working as well as it did tonight was a breath of fresh air."

Getting into a groove out of the gate is nothing new to 21-year-old, who's allowed one run over the first three innings in his eight starts since joining Montgomery.

"He's able to get off to good starts because he has really good stuff, so he attacks guys early on," Williams said. "That helps him to get a feel for what the opposition is trying to do. It's what he's been doing since he got here."

Engaged in a duel with Twins' fifth-ranked prospect Kohl Stewart, Honeywell locked back into gear after Vielma's single, retiring nine in a row before Granite collected his second single in the sixth. 

"Both guys pitched with a lot of intensity," Williams said. "It was a playoff-type atmosphere with two teams competing for a spot in the postseason. I think you saw two starters go out and compete to the best of their abilities as long as they could."

The sixth provided the biggest test for the 2014 first-round pick. Honeywell got Vielma to ground out but gave up a third single to Granite. He exacted revenge on the Lookouts leadoff man by picking him off for the second out.

"He does a really nice job of controlling the running game," Williams said. "He holds the ball well. A lot of times, guys worry about the runners and don't execute their pitches, but Brent does a nice job of not allowing that to happen."

Honeywell still wasn't out of the woods as Ryan Walker tripled to right field to provide a two-out threat for Chattanooga. With his scoreless start in jeopardy, the Walters State Community College product went back to his heater and got Nick Goodrum to fly to shallow center. 

"I was able to live in and out of the zone tonight," Honeywell said. "It's never a good thing to be in the zone too much or out of it too much, but tonight I was able to make the big pitches when it count."

"He stayed with the same game plan there," Williams added. "It came down to him believing in his fastball and pitching off of it. His fastball is his best pitch, and it showed tonight."

Promoted from Class A Advanced Charlotte on July 7, Honeywell has pitched to a 2.14 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over 46 1/3 innings for the Biscuits. 

Stewart allowed one run on five hits with five strikeouts over eight innings, lowering his ERA to 3.04 in 14 starts for the Lookouts. 

After Jeff Ames pitched a scoreless seventh in relief of Honeywell, Kyle Winkler (0-2) allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in the eighth to take the loss.