Rawhide's Duplantier fans nine in five innings

Jon Duplantier's head-turning season continued Wednesday.  
The D-backs' No. 2 prospect gave up two hits and two walks while tying his career high with nine strikeouts over five scoreless frames before Class A Advanced Visalia dropped a 4-3, 12-inning decision to Stockton. His latest scoreless outing lowered Duplantier's ERA to a Minor League-leading 1.37. 

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"Besides having four plus pitches, he's got a great demeanor and a great mound presence," Visalia pitching coach Jeff Bajenaru said. "Whenever a runner reaches base, he tells himself this runner is not scoring. And that's really impressive."
It was the 12th time in 23 starts this year that Duplantier has worked at least five innings without allowing an earned run. The Delaware native hasn't given up more than three earned runs in any of his 24 outings between Class A Kane County and Visalia. And he's yielded one earned run over his last 20 innings in the notoriously hitter-friendly California League.
"That's an impressive stat," Bajenaru said. "I'm sure it's something he's proud of, but it's not something you'll ever hear him talking about. He knows his job is to put zeros on the board, and he seems to do it every time."
Duplantier, who sports a 0.97 WHIP over 131 innings, notched two strikeouts in working around a single in the first. He got into a jam with two outs in the second by walking Branden Cogswell and giving up a double to Luis Barrera. But the 2016 third-round pick escaped by striking out Santiago Chávez.
"He's just got something about him, the animal comes out or something when someone reaches," Bajenaru said. "He fine-tunes his focus when somebody gets on. It's not like he doesn't do that when nobody is on base, but he really locks in. I'm not sure exactly where it comes from, but it's pretty rare to see."

The 6-foot-4 right-hander fanned two in the third and struck out the side in the fourth. It was the third time this month and the fourth time this season, he's recorded nine strikeouts. The Rice University product has 156 punchouts across the two levels. 
"He's got a fastball that touched 97 tonight and he's got three plus secondary pitches that he can throw at anytime. That's a nice weapon to have in your back pocket," Bajenaru said. 
Duplantier got three ground-ball outs in a 1-2-3 fifth and exited after throwing 53 of 82 pitches for strikes. Only three balls left the infield against the 23-year-old, who figures to start the Rawhide's regular-season finale on Sept. 4 at Modesto with a chance to win the Minor League ERA title.
"I'm sure it'll be a nice feather in his cap and when this year is done it'll be something he looks at that makes him go, 'Wow," Bajenaru said.
Stockton forced extra innings on Brett Siddall's leadoff homer in the eighth, then walked off in the 12th on Mikey White's one-out double.