'Riders' Faulkner blanks Drillers for seven

Andrew Faulkner has been looking for that Double-A start where everything falls into place for him. On Friday night, he found it.

"It was by far the most comfortable I've been this year," the Rangers' No. 16 prospect said. "My mechanics were as good as they have been. Everything felt smooth and consistent."

It showed in the results.

Faulkner scattered three hits and a walk over seven scoreless innings, striking out seven, to earn the victory in Frisco's 4-1 road win over Tulsa.

The superb performance followed a May 30 outing in which the 22-year-old left-hander held the Drillers to two runs on three hits and four walks while fanning five over five innings. That arguably was his best start since throwing 5 2/3 scoreless frames on April 16 at Arkansas.

"We really didn't have anything on them last time out. Me and [catcher] Pat Cantwell had some ideas, and he was great behind the plate," said Faulkner, who threw 54 of 89 pitches for strikes. "I don't think I shook him off all game -- we were really on the same track."

The 2011 14th-round Draft pick started the game by walking Adam Law and surrendering a one-out single to Yadir Drake. But he wasn't concerned.

"I threw some quality pitches to the leadoff guy. A lot of times, umpires aren't used to seeing you, and this was the first time I've had him. They have to see what your ball's doing and it can take a few minutes to see how it's moving," Faulkner said. "The hit after that, we already had a two-run lead, so I wasn't too worried. I just wanted to try to get a double play. The guys have been making plays behind me all year, so I knew if I could just get a couple popouts or a double play ... " 

Faulkner (4-3) got a groundout off the bat of Lars Anderson that advanced the runners, then froze the Dodgers' new $62.5 million man, Hector Olivera, who reached base three times in his professional debut Thursday.

"That was pretty cool," Faulkner said. "I didn't really know anything about the guy. I heard he was going to be here and I thought that was cool. That's part of the fun of playing at this level."

He went on to strike out Olivera the other two times they faced off, but he didn't have any particular plan for the highly touted 30-year-old second baseman.

"It was one of those situations where you just try to read it, see how he takes pitches," Faulkner said. "You just try to keep the ball down."

After the opening frame, Faulkner cruised, working perfect innings in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh. He was especially determined to hold the Drillers, considering that their starting pitcher was fourth-ranked Dodgers prospect Jose De Leon, who shrugged off a first-inning two-run dinger by No. 3 Rangers prospect Nomar Mazara to keep the RoughRiders quiet through the middle innings.

"[De Leon is] one of those guys who it's always a battle when you face him," Faulkner said. "It was really good that we got two runs right off the bat, and you know those may be the only two runs we get all game, which is really unusual for our offense. But he's one of those guys where that might happen. You buckle down and do what you can.

"There were some balls squared up, but fortunately, they went right to guys. Our shortstop, [Beamer] Weems, had some balls smoked at him. Edwin [Garcia] started a great double play at third and Drew Robinson, our second baseman, made some big plays, too."

Will Lamb surrendered a run on a hit and a walk in the eighth, but Josh McElwee earned his fourth save of the year with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Mazara's homer was his fourth of the season and third extra-base hit this week. Seventh-ranked Texas prospect Nick Williams went 3-for-4 with a run scored and Robinson slugged his 10th homer.

De Leon (0-2) ended up allowing three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out six over seven innings.