Paredes spins five hitless frames for Bandits

It was almost déjà vu all over again for River Bandits pitching coach Drew French, but it took a few innings for him to notice. A day after starter Carlos Sanabriacarried a perfect-game bid into the seventh, Enoli Paredes also flirted with history.
"Honestly ... didn't cross my mind again," the coach said. "He walked a guy in the third inning, and that's the first time I actually looked at the scoreboard and realized, 'Oh man, here we go again.'"
Paredes tossed five hitless innings, striking out five and walking one, before Class A Quad Cities fell to Cedar Rapids, 3-0, on Wednesday at Perfect Game Field.

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"Everything was really solid with his fastball and both of his breaking balls. As long as you have two pitches that you can rely on, you can probably get two times through the order. And he had three pitches," French said. "He had pretty good command to all three of them and he was able to do some things, similar to Carlos Sanabria, where was able to get some early contact."
Just like Sanabria did Tuesday, Paredes found a quiet corner in the dugout between frames. The only baserunner the Astros right-hander allowed was Ben Rortvedt on a four-pitch walk with one out in the third.
While the coach said Paredes' changeup wasn't quite there, the 21-year-old Dominican Republic native was able to execute with his other three offerings, throwing 40 of his 66 pitches for strikes. Three of his punchouts came in three-pitch at-bats.

"The difference for him was the breaking ball, but the curveball and the slider were just [great too]," French said. "He was able to throw them for strikes when he wanted to and then expand the plate, go below the zone to get swings-and-misses and get some weak contact to put guys away."
Paredes has held Midwest League foes to two runs in 19 2/3 innings across four outings. The 5-foot-11 hurler lowered his ERA to 2.43 in seven games -- five starts -- during his full-season debut.
"He just has some really interesting pitch types and I don't think hitters see him well. So his main focus is can he command two pitches for strikes for an entire outing?" French said. "The last three or four times out, he's had three, if not four, of his pitches going. Most guys are tough to hit, but he's a small-bodied, quick-armed, right-handed pitcher who has a lot of deception."
The River Bandits utilized the piggyback system Wednesday, so it was predetermined that Paredes wouldn't go more than five innings. Yohan Ramirez (0-1) followed, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
"It's exciting because these guys are young, they're at this level for the first time. Both those guys, [Sanabria and Paredes], did not start in Quad Cities, so they were both in extended. To see them come up here and have some success, I'm really happy for those guys," the pitching coach said. "And certainly they've put in the work to have success. I'm just the sounding board and the guy they can lean on. So when they're going good, I'm just going to stay as far away from them as possible."

Kernels starter Tyler Wells came off the disabled list Wednesday and struck out 10 over four one-hit frames. Colton Davis (3-1) followed with two one-hit innings. Alex Robinson and Andrew Vasquez kept the shutout going with an inning apiece and Hector Lujan fanned two over a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
"He's really a good-looking, big, athletic arm. His stuff was pretty good," French said of Wells. "We went out of the strike zone a couple times to chase some of his breaking balls. He has two good breaking balls that go outside of the plate and he's got a fastball that has a really good angle to it."
Twins No. 10 prospectLewin Diaz knocked a two-run double in the eighth.