Barnes fans 14 in 'Jackets' loss

Scott Barnes insists he's not a strikeout pitcher. He'd have a hard time convincing the Greenville Drive.

The 20-year-old left-hander struck out 14, including eight consecutive batters, over six innings but absorbed the loss Saturday as the Augusta GreenJackets were edged by the Drive, 2-1, at Fluor Field at the West End.

"I wasn't counting, but I knew I had quite a few," said Barnes, San Francisco's eighth-round pick in this year's First-Year Player Draft. "I don't pitch for strikeouts. I go for contact early in the count so I can pitch deep into the game."

Barnes (2-2) allowed two runs in the opening inning, then fanned Michael Almanzar and Manny Arambarris to begin his strikeout streak. The stretch ended when Oscar Tejeda grounded out to second base in the fourth, but the St. John's University product put together a mini-streak of four strikeouts as he mowed down the final 17 batters he faced.

"I used my fastball mostly to get ahead and mixed in an occasional change to keep hitters off-balance," Barnes explained. "I was just focusing on keeping their lead to one and keeping us in the game."

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Greenville needed just one hit to grab that lead. David Mailman led off the bottom of the first and reached on an error by shortstop Juan Ciriaco. He took third on Rafael Cabreja's double -- the only hit Barnes allowed -- and scored on a groundout by Zachary Penprase. After Jered Stanley walked, Cabreja raced home on a fielder's choice by Tejeda.

Barnes was charged with two runs -- one earned -- on one hit and one walk as his ERA crept up to 1.35 in five starts since he was promoted from short-season Salem-Keizer on July 30. He started his professional career in the Arizona League and went 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA in three games before making two Northwest League appearances.

The Massachusetts native recorded his first pro win on Aug. 11 as he blanked West Virginia on one hit over seven innings. But he said he takes games like that one and Saturday's in stride.

"This is just one game," he said. "If you have a bad outing, you try to shake it. And if you have a good outing, you try to keep doing what you're doing."

The GreenJackets (40-21) scored their lone run in the third on Juan Ciriaco's RBI single.

Terumasa Matsuo (6-5) allowed one run on seven hits over six innings for the win, fanning six without issuing a walk. Felix Ventura worked around two hits in a scoreless ninth to notch his 19th save for the Drive (27-34).