Hess allows one hit in Baysox's shutout

Coming into August, David Hess began telling everyone he wanted to finish the season strongly. As the month winds down, he's kept his word.
The Orioles' 29th-ranked prospect allowed one hit and one walk while striking out five over a career-high eight innings on Friday as Double-A Bowie blanked Altoona, 2-0, at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Gameday box score
Hess (11-8) retired the side in order in six of his eight frames. The right-hander stranded Elvis Escobar after a two-out single in the third inning and worked around an error and a walk in the sixth.
"One thing I was able to do well tonight was get the first guy out in every inning," Hess said. "When you're able to do that and let your defense work behind you, a lot of good things happen."
The 24-year-old fell three outs short of his first career nine-inning shutout. An error by third baseman and Orioles No. 3 prospect Ryan Mountcastle on a hit by Escobar and a walk to No. 5 Pirates prospectCole Tucker led to a 19-pitch sixth inning that pushed his count to 106 through eight.

"That began with a little bit of a weird play," the Tennessee native said. "Whenever that happens, you just have to recollect yourself, go out there and get right back on track -- make some quality pitches, get some ground balls and force contact and get outs that way."
Hess improved to 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA over 33 innings in five August starts. Since the start of the month, he's slashed his ERA from 4.41 to 3.91.
"I think I've been kicking it into a new focus level almost," the 2014 fifth-round pick said. "I've been just really bearing down, going out there and competing."
Hess repeated the Eastern League this season after going 5-13 with a 5.37 ERA in 25 games with the Baysox in 2016. The Tennessee Tech product has improved in nearly every statistical category in his second stint and said he hopes his growth this season helps him keep improving in the next one.

"I've worked on a few things," he said. "Throughout the offseason I switched my changeup grip, so now it's more of a split-change. Me and my pitching coach, Kennie [Steenstra], we've really worked a lot this year on refining and keeping my off-speed pitches tight. I've been working on throwing my curveball for strikes and also pitching inside and keeping people a bit more honest.
"I definitely think having that extra focus and really trying to bare down and finish the season on a good note is going into the offseason in the right way. That puts good momentum for next year, and that's what we're working for."
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Scott McGough gave up one hit in the ninth to earn his 12th save and wrap up Bowie's eighth shutout.
Erick Salcedo gave the Baysox a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second and Austin Wynns padded it with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Curve starter J.T. Brubaker (7-5) took the loss after giving up one run on two hits and five walks with seven strikeouts over six innings.