Cabrera back on track in Biscuits' shutout

After a promising start to the season, Génesis Cabrera hit a rough patch with Double-A Montgomery. The 25th-ranked Rays prospect accumulated a 7.03 ERA over his past five starts, but he seemed to straighten things out in a big way Thursday night.
Cabrera (7-6) yielded three hits and struck out nine over 7 1/3 innings as the Biscuits blanked the Jumbo Shrimp, 1-0, at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The left-hander got through the outing without issuing a walk and improved to a 4.12 ERA in his 21st Southern League appearance.

"He was locating his fastball, he had a really good changeup," Montgomery pitching coach R.C. Lichtenstein said. "He was able to change speeds in the zone and he never really looked like he was overthrowing."

Cabrera earned Southern League All-Star honors after a steady first half. His nine punchouts Thursday propelled him to second on the Southern League leaderboards with 124, trailing Jackson's Taylor Widener (130) for tops on the circuit.
The southpaw also stands second in the league to Pensacola's Daniel Wright in innings pitched at 113 2/3 -- a mark put in jeopardy by his recent struggles. Over that stretch, he entered the seventh only once but went beyond 95 pitches in four of five starts. Lichtenstein said he cautioned Cabrera after his latest outing not to worry about his place on the organizational totem pole and to understand the club isn't working to develop a Double-A or Triple-A star, but a quality big leaguer.
"I don't think he's ever lacked confidence, but obviously he's invested in what's going on in his moment," the 49-year-old coach said. "He's really fun to watch. ... Sometimes we forget that he's 21 years old, he'll still show some of the immaturity of the process. Of what professional baseball will do to you when you're wondering why you haven't gone to the next level.
"The reality is, unless you're in the big leagues, who cares what level you're at? As we know, young kids, they understand what that next level is all about. They always want to be at that next level because it's like that caste system."
Gameday box score
The tough period came on the heels of his deepest outing of the season, in which Cabrera kept Birmingham scoreless for eight innings, surrendering four hits and a walk while striking out four. On Thursday, the Southern League's leader in walks, pitched his first outing without allowing a base on balls since a June 4 gem against Mississippi in which he racked up a career-best 12 strikeouts.
"A lot of times, I say, he gets ahead in the count and tries to embarrass hitters instead of just beating them," Lichtenstein said. "I don't see him as a guy with bad command, he just tends to overthrow and lose feel for pitches. He can locate the ball whenever he wants to, whenever he stays in rhythm. ... When the changeup stays as part of the equation, he tends to throw the fastball better."
The 21-year-old retired the first seven batters he faced -- striking out the side in the second inning -- until Brian Schales knocked a single on the ground through the left side. John Norwood bounced a base hit to center with two outs in the third and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Cabrera stranded the only Jacksonville runner to get into scoring position against him by inducing Joe Dunand to pop out to first.

"Today, he did a really nice job of just staying in rhythm and executing pitches," Lichtenstein said. "He never got into an area where he was overthrowing or kind of tried to do too much."
He was perfect through the next three frames and got Eric Jagielo to bounce out to third for the first out in the eighth. He exited after a base hit by the next batter, Justin Twine.
The native of the Dominican Republic gave way to Yoel Espinal after throwing 65 of 105 pitches for strikes. The 25-year-old preserved the shutout with a five-out save, his fourth of the year.
Rays No. 13 prospect Nathaniel Lowe had a pair of hits and Thomas Milone drove in the game's only run with a seventh-inning single. 
Merandy Gonzalez (1-6) allowed a run on seven hits and three walks over seven innings for Jacksonville.