M-Braves' Anderson fans 11 in latest gem

Ian Anderson was in full command of his three-pitch repertoire on Saturday night, and it showed.
MLB.com's No. 30 overall prospect tied his career high with 11 strikeouts and gave up two hits over six-plus innings as Double-A Mississippi blanked Jacksonville, 2-0, at Trustmark Park.

Anderson (2-1) began the game with a four-pitch punchout of Magneuris Sierra. The bookend whiff was a 3-2 hammer for a swing-and-miss by John Silviano to end the sixth. In between, the 2016 first-round pick stacked up strikeouts like spent shrimp carcasses at a Low Country boil.
"Obviously, I wanted to build off my last outing," he said of his eight-strikeout effort last Sunday at Mobile. "Going in, I wanted to try to execute the best I could. I had a good [pregame] bullpen, but you take that with a grain of salt.
"Tonight, I had a feel for all my pitches and used all three to keep the hitters off-balance. I had a better curveball than in the past couple starts, but the biggest thing was being able to work ahead in the count," which Anderson did against 13 of the 23 batters he faced.
Gameday box score
With multiple strikeouts in the second and third, Anderson entered the sixth with eight whiffs. Four batters later, the third-ranked Braves prospect equaled his single-game high, set on May 25, 2017 with Class A Rome and matched last July 2 with Class A Advanced Florida.
The 3-2 curveball to Silviano to end the sixth "felt good out of my hand," Anderson said. "A 3-2 curveball, not a whole lot to lose there, unless I hang it. If I execute the pitch, it benefits us [and] that's what happened.
"I had confidence in my off-speed pitches. I feel like I 'pitched' more tonight."
Anderson, who turned 21 on Thursday, returned to the bump for the seventh but was lifted after issuing a leadoff five-pitch walk to Joe Dunand. He threw 57 of 101 pitches for strikes and walked three batters.
"I would have loved to stay out [for the seventh] and I tried to go after [Dunand], but I did not execute," he said.
Anderson lowered his ERA to 2.79, good for 12th in the Southern League but merely third-best among highly regarded M-Braves starters Tucker Davidson (1.46) and Jeremy Walker (2.00).
"We all have a great relationship," he said of the staff's internal competitiveness. "The starters, we're all best friends. It makes you work harder and not get complacent. It's fun to be part of it. When one goes out and dominates, you want to follow."

Josh Graham picked up his third save with two innings of spotless relief, fanning three.
Jacksonville starter Jorge Guzman (1-3) matched Anderson for four innings. In the fifth, Mississippi broke through as a groundout by Braves No. 30 prospect Ray-Patrick Didder plated Daniel Lockhart. Didder again touched up the right-hander in the seventh with an RBI single.
Guzman, the Marlins' No. 9 prospect, allowed two runs while scattering five hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five.
Didder and Salazar were 2-for-3 to lead the Braves' seven-hit attack.