Wong hitless again for GreenJackets

Jake Wong's last outing was so good, he made things even better Sunday.
San Francisco's No. 7 prospect tossed six hitless innings for the second straight start, allowing just one baserunner and striking out a pair without a walk, as Class A Augusta walked off late with a 3-2, 11-inning win over visiting Hagerstown.

Coming off his best appearance of the young season, when he kept Lexington out of the hit column on April 30, Wong (2-1) was sharp again at SRP Park. There weren't many differences between the two outings.
"Some of the same type of stuff, honestly," Wong said. "It was a matter of mixing, but I think today came down to more about fastball execution. Getting to watch their lineup a couple times through in the past couple nights, just realizing and understanding that they're a pretty aggressive lineup, pretty aggressive to fastballs in the zone. I just tried to go out there and execute pitches. A big shoutout to the infield today and to the entire defense, honestly, picking me up and making some tough plays."
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The right-hander faced the minimum in all but one inning, retiring the side in order in the first inning before he was unable to haul in a throw from Wander Franco while covering first base against Suns cleanup hitter Jacob Rhinesmith to open the second. But Wong stranded Rhinesmith on the bases, retiring the side in order behind him.
That started a stretch of 15 straight outs recorded by the Grand Canyon University product, who induced nine outs on grounders and just one on a fly.
"After the fourth, it was the same type of feeling," he said. "I just wanted to keep it rolling and give my team a chance to win. It was just a 1-0 game at that point, so I just had to keep grinding and keep working through it. I was just trying to hold the opponent at bay and keep it rolling."
Like Sunday, Wong pointed out the aggressiveness of Lexington hitters following his previous gem, but that wasn't the only reason for his success against Hagerstown.
"Each lineup resents kind of a new challenge," he said. "Each and every game is kind of a fresh start and fresh slate. Going through the lineup and getting early outs and quick outs is always good, always good for the pitch count too. Quick outs and the less pitches, the better. It's just a matter of going out there, executing the gameplan and making pitches when they need to be made."
Wong was extremely efficient in the sixth outing of his season, needing just 52 pitches to cruise through six innings, 38 in the strike zone. The pitch count was Wong's second-lowest of the year behind the 48 thrown over just 1 2/3 innings in his season debut at Asheville. Though he didn't come out for the seventh, that was part of the plan.
"Right now, we have a pretty firm six-inning limit for all of our low-A starters, so going into the game, I knew I probably had six innings," Wong said. "Coming out of the game, I just wanted the next guy to do just as well. It really wasn't a big deal to me. Obviously the competitor in you wants to keep going always, but I respect the decision and we were able to pull out the win, so that's what's most important at the end of the day."

The 22-year-old left with a 1-0 lead, but Hagerstown rallied to send the game on a bases-loaded walk issued by Augusta reliever Ryan Walker in the eventh. Still, the GreenJackets went home happy. After the teams traded runs in the 10th, Augusta came through in the 11th when Nico Giarratano singled to right field to bring in Aaron Bond with the game-winning run.
"It makes it that much sweeter," Wong said. "On the one hand, throwing six hitless is always fun, always a good feeling, but ultimately getting the win and just being able to walk off after two close games yesterday ... my roommate Nico Giarratano getting the walk-off makes it that much sweeter. We played all 11 innings and whatever it takes."