Finesse fueling Smokies' Blackburn

Paul Blackburn has improved every season as a professional, so it's no surprise to see him thrive in his first year in Double-A.

The Cubs right-hander continued his stellar start in the Southern League, allowing just two singles over seven innings to lead Tennessee to a 4-0 win over Montgomery on Monday at Smokies Park. 

Blackburn (2-0) needed just 86 pitches to navigate his way through a Biscuits lineup that featured four of Tampa Bay's Top 30 prospects, five if you count the opposing starter, No. 9 Jacob Faria. But the California native wasn't intimidated by his opponent.

"They definitely have a good lineup over there," Blackburn said. "I watched them carefully, taking care to notice their swings and put myself out there mentally in preparation for tonight. The key was getting ahead and staying within myself and to let them hit the ball to my defense. My fastball was there, but my off-speed stuff really wasn't. I couldn't get a feel for it, so I wanted to keep the fastball down as much as possible, make them hit it on the ground and have my teammates pick me up."

Although he's not expected to light up the radar gun or amass a large number of strikeouts, the 22-year-old has shown he can get opposing hitters out. Blackburn kept the Montgomery hitters off balance, inducing seven ground-ball outs to only three strikeouts.

"To be honest, I take more pride in groundouts than I do strikeouts," he said. "The more the ball is on the ground, the better you set your team up for a chance to win the game. If I don't get strikeouts and I get a bunch of ground balls instead, I'm happy with that."

The 56th pick of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft has found success with this path. Blackburn entered 2016 with a 20-12 record and a 3.23 ERA in his first four professional seasons. However, he's taken it to another level in his first three starts with the Smokies, allowing just one run on 11 hits and four walks in 18 innings for a 0.50 ERA. 

"I think I trust myself a lot more," the California native said. "I put in a lot of work during the offseason, focusing on getting my body stronger and ready for the grind. I started throwing a month earlier than I had in the past, so I felt stronger and a lot more ready. I believe that's played a big part so far."

Tennessee took a 2-0 lead in the second on shortstop Carlos Penalver's two-run double to left field. He made it 3-0 with an RBI single to center in the fourth. 

Faria (0-2) allowed four runs on four hits while walking a career-high seven and striking out five over 4 2/3 innings.