Heatherly gets on track for Greeneville

Jacob Heatherly's first eight starts of the season had produced a mixed bag of results. On Friday, the Reds' No. 19 prospect found a groove. 
Heatherly allowed one hit and one walk while matching his career high with eight strikeouts as Rookie-level Greeneville rolled to an 8-1 win over Danville at Dan Daniel Memorial Park. It marked the first victory on the southpaw's ledger since Aug. 20, 2017 when he was pitching in the Arizona League.

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"I was just trying to attack every hitter I faced. Today, I was just focusing on one pitch at a time," Heatherly said. "My fastball was working really well today, so I was working off that. I worked in a couple of curveballs and a couple of sliders. I just kept it over the plate."
After allowing two runs and nine baserunners over four innings in his last outing at Bristol, the 20-year-old established his command by throwing 51 of 81 pitches for strikes, per Greeneville broadcaster Justin Rocke. 
Getting comfortable in and around the zone was paramount for Heatherly, who issued at least three walks in every previous start this season. He's been working on some slight mechanical adjustments with Greeneville pitching coach and former big league closer Chad Cordero. 
"It's just one of those years that hasn't gone as good as it could have," Heatherly said. "But today I was just trying to make an adjustment from the last few outings I've had. I was just trying to get the ball down and in the strike zone. I felt like I did that better today than I have been.
"It's very surreal working with [Cordero]. He's been pretty good with me -- we click really well together. He helps me with stuff that I've been working on, both mentally and physically."
Things got off to an inauspicious start, however, as Heatherly walked Braves leadoff man Nicholas Shumpert and balked him to second. The left-hander kept his cool, getting Luis Mejia to ground out to second before catching Brett Langhorne and Justin Smith looking at third strikes. 
"That was huge for me, just [to] mentally stay in and attack the hitters and not let that bother me, that they had the leadoff walk," he said. "I went right back at it, and that just carried over to the rest of the game. ... Everything was clicking after that first inning and I felt that I was in a good groove."
Heatherly allowed just two more baserunners. Carlos Baerga Jr. whacked a two-out double in the second and Ricardo Rodriguez was plunked with two outs in the fourth. The lefty retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced. 

With the outing, he completed at least five innings for the second time this season and for the fourth instance overall since being taken in the third round of last year's Draft. He also lowered his season ERA (6.46) by over a run while improving to 1-4.
"I'm just going to try to take in everything I did good this outing and take it day by day." Heatherly said. "Don't get too high, don't get too low, just try to prepare as best as I can for the next outing that I have."
Miguel Hernandez went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs, while Claudio Finol collected two hits and drove in two runs to lead the Greeneville offense.