Smyly holds Cubs hitless for seven
Pitching for the third time since coming off the disabled list, the Tigers prospect tossed seven hitless innings Wednesday in Class A Advanced Lakeland's 4-0 blanking of the Daytona Cubs.
The Flying Tigers yielded just one hit as Smyly (2-2) notched his second pro win, one start after earning his first.
"I was happy," Smyly said. "Before the game, I knew I was on a pitch count; it was the third start since I came off the DL. I got my first pro victory my last start. I just tried to put another good one together and I just started rolling."
Smyly struck out seven and issued three walks in the longest start of his brief career. The left-hander, who turns 22 on Monday, allowed only two balls to leave the infield and did not let a runner to advance past first base.
"Really, everything [was working]," said Smyly, a 2010 second-round Draft pick. "I had really good command of my fastball on the inside and outside of the plate. I made them stay honest with the slider. I threw all my pitches for strikes, which really helped me."
The outing was only the sixth of Smyly's professional career. He missed more than a month earlier this season with elbow tendinitis and is still building up strength.
"Probably around the fifth I realized they hadn't got a hit yet, but I walked three batters prior to that," Smyly said. "I knew I probably wasn't going the whole game. Every inning, I was just trying to go out there and keep us in the game. It was a 4-0 game at time, so one bad inning and it could turn on you quick."
Overall, Smyly has a 3.03 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 35 2/3 innings.
The California native said there's been just one other time when he took a no-hitter this deep in a game. As a freshman at the University of Arkansas in 2009, he came within two outs of pitching the first no-hitter in NCAA Tournament competition in 18 years.
"My freshman year in college at Regionals at Arkansas, we were playing at [the University of Oklahoma] and I took a no-hitter to one out in the ninth," he said. "The guy got an infield single -- he beat out a chopper to shortstop.
"I was a redshirt freshman at the time, so I wasn't a leader on the team. I think I was the third starter and I carried it all the way to ninth. That was a pretty memorable moment."
Tyler Stohr relieved Smyly to start the eighth and gave up a two-out single to Jake Opitz.
"It's funny because right when he hit it -- it wasn't hit hard, it was just a seeing-eye single through the hole -- we thought the second baseman [Corey Jones] was there," Smyly said. "But it took a bad hop before he could get to it.
"It was kind of disappointing, but we were up 4-0. A no-hitter's great, but we were trying to get the win. And a one-hitter's nothing to frown upon."
Jordan Lennerton led the way offensively for Lakeland with a pair of doubles and two RBIs.
Daytona starter Aaron Kurcz (3-2) took the loss after surrendering four runs on five hits in three innings.
David Heck is a contributor to MLB.com.