Whitecaps' Sodders celebrates birthday in style

For the second straight outing, Austin Sodders had a career day. The latest just happened to come on his 22nd birthday.  
The Tigers prospect put together the best outing of his career on Saturday with 10 strikeouts, no walks and three hits over six innings as Class A West Michigan defeated Lake County, 1-0.
Sodders hasn't allowed a run while recording 19 punchouts against two walks over 11 innings in his last two games.

"Every time I'm out there, I just worry about trying to execute pitch-by-pitch," the left-hander said. "I just stick with my approach every day and stay levelheaded. If I avoid getting too up or down on myself and continue having a good work ethic, the success will keep coming."
Box score
The 2016 seventh-round pick retired the first four batters before Emmanuel Tapia hit a double to center field in the second. Sodders rebounded by retiring the next two to get out of the second. 
"I was attacking the zone and trying not to be so fine or nitpicky early in the count," he said. "That helped me get ahead of the hitter and then I was able to separate to both sides of the plate after that. My main goal out there is to get strike one and then get the first two strikes out of three."
After Danny Woodrow drove in the only run of the game with a single to center in the third, Sodders faced his only real hurdle in the bottom of the frame. Lake County used two singles and a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second and third with one out.
He escaped the jam by getting Luke Wakamatsu to pop out to foul territory and Logan Ice to ground out to third. Sodders retired nine in a row after that to conclude his evening. 
"I started to feel like my body and arm was loosening up as the game went on," said the UC Riverside product, who faced only two three-ball counts. "I was getting more and more comfortable in the strike zone with all of my pitches. Extending the amount of innings I could go is helping me get a better feel for everything."
In four starts, Sodders has a 0.90 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. The California native has racked up 25 strikeouts in 20 innings and held opponents to a .194 batting average.
"I worked really hard in the offseason to get better and the way I look at it, the hard work is coming to fruition. My approach is always to take it one pitch at a time. I try not to look too far ahead or behind, and focus on the present moment and that's worked well for me," he added.
Sodders is part of a staff that has got off to a roaring start this season. The Whitecaps have a 2.58 ERA and 1.09 WHIP while recording 235 strikeouts in 209 1/3 innings.
"We've just been passing the baton," Sodders said. "Each one of us has the same common goal -- which is to execute pitches. Our pitching coach, Jose Cordova, has done an excellent job with us and our catchers have been great as well, so all three of those things factor in to our success so far."

Joe Navilhon took over for Sodders in the seventh and gave up two hits with two strikeouts in two innings. Bryan Garcia struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save. 
Indians No. 5 prospect Brady Aiken (0-4) surrendered one run and two hits with four walks through six innings