McGowan goes long in shutout for Gnats

After being an inconsistent reliever for short-season Brooklyn last year, Kevin McGowan is turning in impressive starts as a member of Class A Savannah's rotation this season.

The right-handed Mets prospect allowed two hits over a career-high seven shutout innings in the Sand Gnats' 6-0 win over the Charleston RiverDogs on Monday. He struck out four and walked two.

"I got a lot of outs pretty early on fastballs," McGowan said. "My off-speed wasn't where I wanted it to be tonight, but I just ran with my fastball and got some ground balls. Got a lot of flyouts. ... My catcher [Colton Plaia] called a great game. So it worked out really well."

Over seven starts for Savannah, McGowan is 2-1 with a 1.85 ERA. Last year, his first professional season, he was 3-for-3 in save opportunities but posted an 0-2 record and 5.28 ERA across 14 outings -- one start -- for Brooklyn.

In his last four games, the 22-year-old has allowed just one unearned run over 25 1/3 innings.

What's been the major difference between this year and last?

"I'd definitely say off-speed command for sure," McGowan said, "because I had days last year where I had a really good slider and I had days last year where I literally had no slider. But this year, I really worked hard on trying to develop a solid breaking ball. I worked out in the offseason with [fellow Savannah starter and roommate] Ricky Knapp.

"Me and Marc Valdes, our pitching coach, talked about it a lot. For me, I've just got to get out front with it and let the grip take over. But I just think that, with command of both of those pitches, it's made it a lot easier for me to be successful rather than just relying on a fastball."

Though secondary pitches have been key for McGowan this season, the right-hander did lean on his heater during Monday. The 2013 13th-round pick threw 58 of his 92 pitches for strikes, inducing four groundouts and six flyouts.

"It was there early," McGowan said of his off-speed arsenal. "I felt pretty comfortable in the first inning. And then, I don't know, usually I have a really good feel for my changeup. Most of the game, I didn't have much feel for it. I kept leaving it up or spiking it at like 45 feet.

"I figured I just might as well attack the strike zone with my fastball and hopefully we get some early swings and I can go deep in the game."

McGowan didn't allow a hit over the first three innings before serving up a leadoff double to Aaron Judge in the fourth. Three straight popouts kept Judge at second.

Tyler Wade led off the sixth with a single and advanced on McGowan's one wild pitch. He moved up 90 feet on Judge's flyout to right field, but the pitcher stranded him by getting Mike Ford on another flyout to right.

The New Hampshire native had 1-2-3 innings in the first, second, fifth and seventh. He issued both of his walks in the third.

"If somebody gets on, for me at least, it's not like, 'I want to strike him out,'" McGowan said. "It's kind of just like, 'Just get an out anyway you can, so pitch to contact.' That's what I was trying to do and it worked out pretty well, I thought."

Jorge Rivero and L.J. Mazzilli homered for Savannah. Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith and Champ Stuart each plated a run to help the Sand Gnats snap a three-game skid.