Giolito rebounds with career-high nine K's

Nationals first-rounder Lucas Giolito continues to opens eyes with every start, but the scary thing for the rest of the league is that the teenager is actually getting better.

Buoyed by a surprise selection to next month's Futures Game, the top-ranked Nationals prospect delivered one of the best outings of his young Minor League career Thursday. He struck out a career-high nine batters and scattered three singles over six innings in the Class A Hagerstown Suns' 1-0 win over the visiting Lexington Legends in the second game of a twinbill.

"It was up there with one of my strongest performances of the year," said Giolito (3-2), who walked one batter and lowered his ERA to 2.30 in front of 1,073 fans at Municipal Stadium. "The last outing was probably one of the worst in my career. I wanted to bounce back and give my team a solid chance to win.

"Honestly, I was a little disappointed when I found out I wasn't going to be able to go back out there and finish the game. That's just my competitive nature. But it's just that innings limit, coming back from that stint where I missed those three starts. Today, my last three innings were definitely in more of a groove than the first couple."

No batter reached third base against Giolito and a Lexington hitter made it safely to second only once, in the third inning. Ranked 36th overall among MLB.com's Top 100 prospects, the outing helped Giolito earn his first win in six starts as he beat the Legends seven weeks ago on May 4.

Te 6-foot-6, 255-pound California native rebounded nicely from his most recent start Saturday on the road in Greensboro, where he surrendered a season-worst four runs and two homers.

"That game in Greensboro, I didn't have my best stuff working and I was out of sync with my delivery. I never really got comfortable and they hit me around a little bit," said Giolito, who was named to the Team USA squad Tuesday for the prospect showcase over the All-Star break.

"The difference tonight was that I found a good rhythm and had a positive attitude early and just powered through innings. All three pitches were working for me at different times. Early on, I was more working the fastball and showing the off-speed stuff later. Then I got more comfortable throwing to both sides of the plate. As the game went on, I went to my changeup and curveball more."

Selected by the Nationals 16th overall in the 2012 Draft, the right-hander will celebrate his 20th birthday in a little over two weeks, the day after the Futures Game.

Despite the numbers Giolito has put up in the first half of the South Atlantic League season, he said he wasn't expecting to be recognized with the other elite prospects in the game.

"I found out a few days ago and I was definitely overjoyed to hear that," Giolito said. "I was not expecting it at all because it is my first full year back from [Tommy John] surgery.

"I was really, really excited. It is definitely a huge honor. I personally know a few of those guys and I've heard a lot of those names before and played against a lot of those guys. To be in that category is a huge honor."

Hagerstown edged Lexington, 3-2, in the first game of the doubleheader to sweep the day-night twinbill.