Stutes makes Gnats his latest victims
Stutes pitched seven innings and combined with two relievers on a one-hitter Tuesday night as the Lakewood BlueClaws blanked the Savannah Sand Gnats, 4-0, at FirstEnergy Park.
In lowering his ERA to 0.35, the 21-year-old right-hander won his fourth straight start since he was promoted from short-season Williamsport of the New York-Penn League late last month.
"Tonight I was working on trying to get ahead of the hitters," he said. "I also worked on throwing my off-speed pitches in fastball counts. I didn't get as many strikeouts, but it enabled me to work deeper into the game."
Stutes (4-0), who fanned six and walked three, has allowed just one earned run over 26 innings in the South Atlantic League. The only hit he surrendered against the Sand Gnats was a one-out single in the seventh to Jefferies Tatford.
"I probably didn't expect to start out this hot," said the Oregon State product, who was selected by the Phillies in the 11th round of the June First-Year Player Draft. "It's just one of those things where you try to put together a good start every five days.
"The defense has been great behind me in every game. They've bailed me out of some tough situations."
Stutes was 2-1 with a 1.33 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 27 innings with the Crosscutters before he was promoted. He made his Lakewood debut on July 26 and allowed two hits over six scoreless innings in an 8-1 win over Kannapolis. On Aug. 1, he beat West Virginia, 4-1, giving up a run on two hits in six innings. And on Aug. 6, he tossed seven innings of three-hit ball in beating Hagerstown, 4-0.
"I've only had 10 starts in pro ball, so I'm learning every time out," he said.
Eryk McConnell fanned one in a perfect eighth and Jared Simone struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the BlueClaws' 10th shutout.
Matt Rizzotti went 3-for-3 with three RBIs for Lakewood (33-18), delivering run-scoring singles in the third and fourth and smacking his seventh homer in the seventh.
Eric Beaulac (1-1) yielded three runs on four hits, fanning four and walking five, over three frames for Savannah (22-27).
Alan Friedman is a contributor to MLB.com.