Sims turns tide, fans career-high 10

As the summer winds down, Lucas Sims is just heating up. With August historically being his best month, the right-hander continued the trend in his best Southern League start yet.

Atlanta's No. 7 prospect struck out a career-high 10 while allowing one run on three hits and two walks across six innings as Double-A Mississippi topped Pensacola, 3-1, on Sunday at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.

"The big thing was just going right after guys," Sims said. "I felt like I had everything working and it was a good day. Getting strike one and from there on out, it makes it a lot easier. When you're ahead and you're able to be aggressive and keep hitters off balance, that's a big reason for the strikeouts."

Three of the baserunners against the 2012 first-rounder got aboard in the first two frames. After issuing a free pass to top Reds prospect Jesse Winker and allowing a single by Marquez Smith with two outs in the first, Sims struck out Seth Mejias-Brean to get out of the jam. An inning later, he worked around a leadoff double by Phillip Ervin.

"It really just comes down to executing pitches. In certain situations, you want to go for soft contact," the 21-year-old said. "The walk was frustrating, but being able to go after the next guy and minimizing the damage, that was the key."

Sims (3-2) pitched a 1-2-3 third and retired the first two batters of the fourth before Ervin stepped up to the plate again. The Reds No. 11 prospect then drove an 0-1 offering from the M-Braves starter over the left-field fence for his second homer in as many games.

"I wanted that pitch a little further down in the zone, maybe a little out of the zone. He put a nice swing on it and that's baseball," Sims said. "He's one of the guys that's swinging a hot bat right now. I gave him some good pitches to hit, mistakes on my part and he executed."

The Lawrenceville, Georgia native rebounded by striking out the next four batters he faced, and although he walked Winker a second time, he cruised to his third straight victory. After throwing 63 of his 90 pitches for strikes, the right-hander surpassed his previous career high of nine punchouts, most recently accomplished on July 21 for Class A Advanced Lynchburg.

"Me and Dennis Lewallyn, our pitching coach, have been working hard on fine-tuning some things, spinning the breaking ball a little better, moving the ball in and out, up and down," said Sims, who also has been working on repeating his delivery. "This is definitely my best start in Double-A so far."

The 21st overall pick in 2012 has held Southern League foes to four runs on 10 hits through 22 1/3 frames in his last four starts while improving to 11-5 all-time in August.

"The final month especially, that's your most recent memories going into the offseason," Sims said. "You always want to finish strong and head into the offseason on a positive note and take that and hopefully roll with it into the next year."

No. 8 Braves prospect Rio Ruiz belted a two-run shot in the fourth and reliever Kyle Kinman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season.