Generals' Payamps spins six one-hit innings

Joel Payamps' performances this season can often be determined from the early going. Doug Drabek saw right away how Saturday night was going to turn out.
"Sometimes, you can kind of tell if he's got the velo reading, where it looks like he's just throwing pitches instead of having an intent for each pitch," Double-A Jackson's pitching coach said. "Today, as far as the body language, he was a little more into it and had a little more effort. He kind of got after it from the start and I think that was beneficial for him."
In one of his best outings this season, the D-backs prospect allowed one hit and struck out three over six scoreless innings in the Generals' 9-3 win over Birmingham at Regions Field

Gameday box score
"He was very aggressive from the start and his fastball was good. His two-seamer had good movement on it and he was able to get in on some righties with it," Drabek said. "He kept it down, threw strikes with it and was able to expand the zone with his slider. It was just a good combination."
The first five batters grounded out before Payamps gave up a single to left field to White Sox No. 21 prospect Trey Michalczewski.
"He's able to do that if he can just trust his two-seamer," Drabek said. "It has good downward movement and that's what he did to start the game off, just using that and a good slider to have the hitters a little bit out in front with it."
The 23-year-old right-hander retired the next six batters before Mason Robbins reached on an error by first baseman Kevin Cron with two outs in the fourth. Payamps (4-4) set down the final seven batters to finish his night. He threw 53 of 72 pitches for strikes in his first win since June 24. 

"[Birmingham] has an [aggressive] lineup," Drabek said. "It doesn't mean you can't throw fastballs, but he was very good using his on the inner third and outer third early in counts and being able to get some quick outs."
The scoreless outing was Payamps' third this season. He tossed six shutout innings in a spot start for Triple-A Reno on April 24 and spun five perfect innings on April 12 for Class A Advanced Visalia.
Other times, the native of the Dominican Republic struggled to find consistency. However, Saturday's outing reduced his ERA with the Generals from 6.26 to 5.59. 

"I think focus is just a thing of a constant reminder for him," Drabek said. "His side sessions are very consistent, but at times they can be a little more lackadaisical. It's not like he doesn't care or he's not trying, but he could get a little more into it and see what happens on game day."
David Carpenter took over in the seventh for Payamps and surrendered three runs on four hits while facing seven batters. Joey Krehbiel and Gabe Speier combined for seven strikeouts over the final 2 1/3 scoreless innings for Jackson.
Kelly Dugan belted a three-run homer, while Cron collected three doubles for the Generals.