Fedde striking while hot with Senators

Erick Fedde found the right time to pick up his "Dirty Dozen."

Washington's No. 4 prospect struck out a career-high 12 batters as Double-A Harrisburg beat Bowie, 5-4, in 10 innings Wednesday.

Fedde limited the Baysox to a run on four hits and a walk over six innings. The 23-year-old right-hander threw 62 of his 99 pitches for strikes and retired the final nine batters he faced, fanning four straight during that stretch.

"My slider was just the best it's been in my career," Fedde said. "I got a ton of swing-and-misses on it. I threw some good changeups and fastballs to keep guys off balance.

"I think, in some of my other starts, I wasn't keeping guys off balance. I think there was one start where I threw a ton of fastballs in a row and guys at this level are too good to do that to. I've been trying to be a little too perfect and getting in bad counts. Today, I was a lot better at just attacking hitters and keeping myself in good situations."

Fedde fanned 10 batters in an Aug. 5 start for Class A Advanced Potomac. The Nevada native credited his slider for what he felt was his best start since moving up to Harrisburg.

"To both lefties and righties, it was really effective it for me today," he said. "Everything was clicking. Wish I could have gone longer in the game, but I threw a lot of pitches."

Promoted to the Eastern League on Aug. 10, Fedde has made five starts for the Senators, going 2-1 with 28 strikeouts and a 3.99 ERA. After posting a 2.84 ERA in 18 outings in the Carolina League, the 2014 first-round pick has noted some distinct differences since joining the Eastern League.

"At some point, you find that you can overpower hitters at lower levels," Fedde said. "Pretty much everybody can hit a mid-90's fastball and crush it off the wall. Mixing pitches more has been the biggest difference and the catchers here have been great helping me out.

"I've got one start left and I want to have another good start and keep things rolling into next year."

Nick Lee retired the only batter he faced to improve to 3-1 in relief while Andrew Robinson tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th for his ninth save for the Senators.

Harrisburg's Isaac Ballou had two hits and an RBI while Shawn Pleffner scored twice.

Chris Dickerson played a pair of runs for the Baysox.