Harvey, Shorebirds hunt down long win

Acknowledging it was a "pretty big deal," Hunter Harvey didn't pay much attention to his matchup with Lucas Giolito. He just went out and did his job.

The Orioles' No. 4 prospect struck out seven and gave up one hit over six scoreless innings on Wednesday night, long before Class A Delmarva notched a 1-0, 15-inning victory over Hagerstown.

The only blemish on Harvey's evening came in the third, when David Masters singled with one out. Masters promptly was erased by catcher Chance Sisco, who threw him out trying to steal second. Harvey struggled a bit with his control, walking one batter and hitting two, although he faced only two over the minimum.

"I had good fastball command," the 19-year-old right-hander said. "My off-speed pitches were working good today. I was able to command [the changeup] down and able to keep the hitters off my fastball and messing up their timing with it."

Through three starts in his first full season, Harvey is 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 18 strikeouts over 17 innings. The North Carolina native has limited South Atlantic League foes to a .151 batting average and has issued four walks.

"[I] just have command of my fastball and command of my offspeed pitches," Harvey said. "Keeping everybody off balance, working in and out of the zone. Keeping them backed off the plate so they're not sitting on fastballs or anything."

One of Harvey's primary goals this year is to improve his changeup, considered by some to be his third-best pitch.

"It's one of my main focuses right now, trying to get comfortable throwing it and learn how to use it, really," said Harvey, the 22nd overall pick in last year's Draft and the son of former big league All-Star Bryan Harvey.

Giolito, the Nationals' top prospect, nearly matched Harvey, yielding two hits and striking out six over five innings for the Suns.

"I guess it's a pretty big deal, I don't really think about that," Harvey said. "We just go out there and do what we were signed to do -- just throw our games and get the job done. And that's what we did."

The Shorebirds finally broke through in the bottom of the 15th when Trey Mancini singled with two outs, Jeff Kemp walked and Drew Dosch greeted L.J. Hollins -- the Suns' fifth pitcher -- with a single to left field.

Jimmy Yacabonis (1-0) allowed one hits over 1 2/3 scoreless frames for the win as Delmarva grabbed a share of the league lead with its second shutout of the season.