Generals' Young fires six scoreless frames

Alex Young had no margin of error to work with for much of his start on Friday night. Given a slim lead, he made sure it held up as long as he was on the mound.
Young gave up two hits and a walk while recording a season-high eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings as Double-A Jackson edged Birmingham, 2-1, at Regions Field.

The 10th-ranked D-backs prospect fired three perfect frames, then allowed one baserunner in each of his last three innings en route to his third consecutive win. 
Gameday box score
"Coming out of the All-Star break, I really thought I'd turn things around right away. But it didn't go that way," the 23-year-old said. "I was trying to figure some things out and see what was working in terms of what I was throwing and when I was throwing it. I don't necessarily think it was anything too specific, but I just began to trust certain pitches in certain counts and not being afraid to throw anything in any situation."
Young (6-5) fanned four through three hitless frames before running into trouble in the fourth. Eddy Alvarez doubled for Birmingham's first hit and took third on an error by left fielder and D-backs No. 30 prospect Jamie Westbrook. Locked in a scoreless tie with a man on third and nobody out, the southpaw fell back on his three perfect innings to escape his first jam of the night.

"No pitcher wants to be in that situation. With a guy on third and nobody out, more often than not the run is going to get in somehow," Young said. "But I had three good innings before that and I wasn't going to let that situation dictate how the rest of my start would go. I buckled down, made some good pitches and got [Tito Polo and Nick Basto] to chase for strikeouts and then I got the groundout [from Mason Robbins]. It was a big relief and it showed that my coaches have total confidence in me to get through something like that."
Given a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth, Young surrendered a one-out bunt single to Courtney Hawkins in the bottom half but kept the Barons off the board. He issued a leadoff walk to Danny Mendick in the sixth, then retired the last three batters to wrap up his second scoreless start in three outings. 

"Whenever you're in a tight ballgame your focus is dialed in that much more," Young said. "Even when we scored that run, I had to keep making quality pitches and bear down to get the outs. I felt really, really good tonight. All of my pitches were working great, especially my changeup."
The eight strikeouts gave him 63 over 81 2/3 innings this season, but punchouts are something with which he doesn't concern himself.
• Get tickets to a Generals game »
"I know I can strike out more guys, it's just a matter of trusting my pitches," the TCU product said. "I'm not worried about getting more strikeouts, I'm worried about getting outs. If I have to, I know I can. Tonight, I had a lot of guys chasing at pitches in the zone and was getting swings and misses."
Gabriel Moya fanned four over two innings and Yuhei Nakaushiro recorded his fourth save, despite yielding a run on two hits in the ninth.
D-backs No. 13 prospect Victor Reyes tripled and had a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Westbrook singled home the game's first run in the fifth.
Barons starter Jordan Guerrero (6-9) allowed one run over seven innings but suffered his second straight loss. The 30th-ranked White Sox prospect scattered seven hits and a walk while striking out one.