Loons' Sulbaran continues hot stretch

Miguel Subaran didn't have his best stuff on Saturday night, which is a little bit scary considering the results.

The Venezuelan-born Dodgers prospect allowed five baserunners -- three hits and two walks -- while striking out two over seven dominant innings as Class A Great Lakes blanked visiting Peoria, 5-0.

"I worked a lot with my fastball because my breaking pitches weren't really doing much," Sulbaran said. "So it was really good to do well with my fastball."

At 19 years old, Sulbaran (6-2) isn't even close to being the Loons' youngest hurler. And he's given up only four runs -- one earned -- over 24 1/3 innings in his last four outings. Going back over his last seven appearances, he's allowed three earned runs in 40 innings.

The left-hander issued a leadoff walk to Nick Martini in the top of the first, then set down five in a row. Even without his best off-speed stuff, he never allowed consecutive baserunners and kept Peoria from getting anyone to second base until the sixth inning.

After Jeremy Schaffer clubbed a one-out double, Sulbaran retired the next two hitters on popups. He worked a 1-2-3 seventh in his longest start since debuting in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2011.

"Tonight, [Sulbaran] attacked hitters, had his breaking ball going in for strikes and threw his changeup for strikes," Loons manager Razor Shines said. "When you do that and you have good stuff, you are usually successful. And he was really good tonight."

Sulbaran shared the credit with catcher Jose Capellan.

"I work really well with [him]," he said. "I like it when he's behind the plate and we just have good results when we work together."

Signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent in March 2011, the left-hander ranks eighth in the Midwest League with a 2.90 ERA and has 69 strikeouts over 77 2/3 innings.

"Miguel has really begun to throw strikes and is commanding the zone," Shines said.

Peoria's Silfredo Garcia (2-2) matched Sulbaran until the fifth, when Capellan scored on a wild pitch. Brandon Dixon tripled and stole home an inning later, and the Loons turned a triple, four walks and two wild pitches into three runs in the seventh.