Jaye goes long for Intimidators

Class A Kannapolis' Myles Jaye had never gone longer than six innings in a start before Sunday. But you'd never know from the way he mowed down Hickory hitters for eight innings.

Jaye (3-0) led the Intimidators to a 6-0 win over the Crawdads, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out seven to earn his league-leading third victory. He comfortably eclipsed his career high of six frames, which he set last June 16 against Delmarva.

"[Sunday's start] was, no doubt, the best of my professional career," he said. "It felt awesome, I had a lot of confidence in my stuff, and in this game, confidence is everything."

Jaye said he worked with a sinker, a changeup and a slider to generate ground balls and reached as high as 95 mph on the radar gun. The grounders he was generating, though, enabled him to stay on the mound.

"It helped keep my pitch count down," he said. "I think I only threw 47 pitches through five innings. It feels great."

The 21-year-old might be in the midst of the best stretch of his three-year career. He sports a 1.00 ERA in 18 innings over his three starts. He's struck out 15 strikeouts while walking only seven.

A 17th-round selection in the 2010 Draft, the native of Fayetteville, Ga., was dealt to Chicago from Toronto along with Daniel Webb for Jason Frasor in January 2012.

After he posted a strong 2011 season with an 3.00 ERA in 54 innings in the Rookie-level Appalachian League, the transition to the South Atlantic League proved difficult. He went 4-7 for Kannapolis, posting a 6.04 ERA. He struck out 65 and walked 39 in 79 innings.

His coaches, though, helped him correct some of the mechanical flaws during Spring Training that contributed to his struggles.

"They just pound on me to keep my arm away from my head," Jaye said. "When my arm gets a little high that's when I struggle a bit, so they've been pounding it into my head and that's been good. When I start getting high, that's when I start walking guys."

Though he was a little disappointed to have to come back to Class A, he said the early returns have him convinced it was the right move.

"Obviously nobody wants to repeat a level, but the best thing for me was to come here and continue to repeat my delivery and get my mechanics more consistent," the right-hander noted. "And I'm having success so far, so I guess it's working."

Reliever Adam Lopez struck out two in a perfect ninth to preserve the shutout for the Intimidators.

Right fielder Jason Coats paced the offense with a 3-for-5 showing, scoring once and driving a run in. First baseman Rangel Ravelo went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

Fifth-ranked Rangers prospect Jorge Alfaro doubled for the Crawdads.