Hillcats' Hentges puts up more zeros

Sam Hentges went nearly two months without a scoreless outing. 
He's posted only zeros in his last two starts. 
The Indians' No. 16 prospect blanked Salem for six innings on Saturday, allowing two hits and a pair of walks while striking out four, in Class A Advanced Lynchburg's 4-1 win at Lynchburg City Stadium. 

"Everything's been going well. I think the main thing for me is mixing up my pitches," Hentges said. "That's something that I haven't been doing a ton of to start out the season. But I think I've been more confident these past few outings mixing pitches with my curveball and my changeup. That definitely helps."
Hentges (4-5) extended his scoreless streak to 12 2/3 innings. The beginning of this one, however, didn't go smoothly for the left-hander. With one out in the first, No. 10 Red Sox prospectC.J. Chatham walked. Hentges struck out 29th-ranked Roldani Baldwin and Chatham was caught stealing by catcher Li-Jen Chu, with the 21-year-old's pitch count already at 21. 
Gameday box score
But efficiency and working ahead in the count propelled Hentges through the rest of his outing. He retired the side in order in the second and third, facing the minimum his first time through the order.  
"I found myself ahead in counts, which is your goal as a pitcher, and kind of settled in after that longer first inning and started mixing better the second and third time through the lineup," he said. 
In the fourth, the Minnesota native got help from his defense again. Tyler Hill drew a leadoff walk and Hentges fanned Chatham, but a wild pitch advanced Hill to second. Baldwin flied to right and No. 12 prospect Bobby Dalbec recorded Salem's first hit of the night with an infield single to shortstop Alexis Pantoja. Hill tried to score but was thrown out to end the inning.
"My defense behind me tonight was awesome," Hentges said. "They were making the routine plays and they were making the extraordinary plays, too.
"Plays like that kind of sparks our defense. Good plays by my defense, helping me out, will give me a little bit of momentum, a little bit of fire heading into the next inning." 
Similar to developing confidence in a pitch, it took some time for Hentges to be comfortable with the fact his teammates will pick him up more often than not. 
"It's a team chemistry thing," he said."It's only going to get better throughout the season. We have a good group of guys here in Lynchburg. I have the utmost respect for them and a very high level of confidence in the defense and the catchers as well." 
Jerry Downs grounded a single through the right side to lead off the fifth, but it was the last hit Hentges allowed. The 6-foot-6 southpaw coaxed a double play grounder from Chris Madera and retired Pantoja on a popup. 
Hentges helped himself out to begin the sixth by snagging a line drive back to the box off the bat of Carlos Tovar. He struck out Nick Sciortino and got Hill to fly to center, ending his outing. 
The suggestion to add more balance to his sequences was encouraged by the organization's pitching coordinators and coaches. But first, Hentges wanted to gain greater confidence in his curve and change. 
"It's harder to do when you don't have a ton of confidence in your [off-speed] pitches and you haven't been throwing a ton of them," he said. "But yeah, a few outings ago, I just laid it out there and threw all three of my pitches. So far, it's been going well. Just got to keep throwing them more and keeping the ball low." 
The process of "mixing it up" is easier said than done, however. 
"It's tough with the competitive nature of the game and how competitive everyone is," Hentges said. "But you also got to understand it's a developmental thing and there are strides that I need to take developmentally. This is one of them, just kind of mixing it up and having confidence in it now that I've kind of understood what off-speed pitches can do."

The 2014 fourth-round pick threw 53 of 82 pitches for strikes. Those numbers are similar to the 89 pitches and 58 strikes he threw against Frederick on Monday. 
"I think the main thing is to go deeper into games to put my team in a position to win. That's ultimately the goal," he said. "You gotta win the game. It's being able to get through innings quicker on lower pitch counts so you can get deeper in the games and you can get hitters out faster with less pitches." 
Billy Strode followed Hentges with two hitless innings. 
Pantoja went 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Indians No. 27 prospect Mitch Longo and Chu mashed two-run homers to account for the Hillcats' offense. 
Baldwin drove in Salem's lone run with a double to left in the ninth. Red Sox No. 13 prospect Jake Thompson (3-5) took the loss, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks with four punchouts over 4 1/3 innings.