Bears' Pedrotty hurls six hitless innings

John Pedrotty has spent some time working on his mechanics. They looked pretty good on Saturday.

The D-backs' 13th-round Draft pick tossed six hitless innings in his ninth start as a professional, pitching the short-season Yakima Bears to a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Canadians.

Pedrotty (2-3) struck out seven while walking one. He faced two batters over the minimum, overcoming a pair of errors and retiring nine consecutive Canadians at one point.

"I was able to locate my fastball to both sides of the plate, I was staying down in the zone and I was getting ahead early, which made my off-speed stuff so effective," said Pedrotty, who threw 79 pitches.

The 21-year-old left-hander lowered his ERA to 3.11. He's come on strong in his last three starts, allowing just one earned run on nine hits over 18 1/3 innings. The Holy Cross product fanned a career-high eight in his last outing, taking a 1-0 loss against Spokane on Aug. 8.

"Honestly, me and our pitching coach, Doug Bochtler, have been working on stuff mechanically," Pedrotty said. "Lately, I've gotten more consistent with mechanics, which helps me keep my velocity up and helps me locate. When you can locate your off-speed pitches when you get ahead, you just build confidence off that. I feel like I'm improving with every outing."

Pedrotty, who's on a limit of around 85 pitches per game, had hoped to go out for the seventh but understood the limitations placed on a recent Draft pick.

"Of course, in any of those situations you want to go out there and try and finish the job," he said. "I am on a pitch count, it's my first year and I was dying to get back out there, but when you're a first-year guy you can't really argue. It's bittersweet for me not to go out there for the seventh, but we got the win and that's what matters."

Tossing six hitless innings in the middle of his first professional season is a big highlight for Pedrotty, who's looking forward to the Northwest League stretch run.

"I'm real excited, just being able to contribute and be a big factor and help the team make a playoff push," he said.

Willy Paredes lost the no-hit bid in the seventh when he gave up a two-out single to Matt Newman. He fanned three over two innings before Victor Acosta pitched around a hit and a walk in the ninth for his first save.

Tyler Bream, the son of former Major Leaguer Sid Bream, smacked an RBI triple and scored a run for Yakima, while Garrett Weber was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.

Former first-round pick Noah Syndergaard (1-2) took the loss after allowing two runs on six hits over six innings.