Gage goes distance for Flying Squirrels

Matt Gage is finding that experience pays off in his third go-round with Double-A Richmond.
"You face the same guys a lot and kind of pick up on approaches," the Giants left-hander said. "I have a cutter and a sinker, but I also have four other pitches to go with it. I like to shake a lot and I like to get in a hitter's head. As soon as they start sitting on one thing, I can try and go to a different thing."

In his 44th appearance for the club, Gage pitched his first nine-inning shutout in the Flying Squirrels' 3-0 win over Hartford at The Diamond. He scattered five hits, walked one and fanned three while throwing 67 of 106 pitches for strikes. 
Gameday box score
"It feels like I'm back in college," he said, referring to the four complete games he hurled for Siena. "It was awesome. I was told tonight there's really only been a couple in franchise history with the Squirrels, and one of them being [by] Tyler Beede. Whenever my name can be mentioned with a No. 1 prospect in the organization, it's always a good thing."
In 12 starts this season, Gage (4-4) holds a 2.95 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings. His only other complete game as a pro was a seven-inning loss to Bowie on June 1, 2016. The 24-year-old has been with Richmond since his promotion from Class A Advanced Augusta on July 17, 2015.
"Earlier in the year, when I got brought here again, the coaching staff asked me just to pass along some knowledge I had about the league," Gage said. "All I really told the guys coming from High-A was the hitters make a better approach. They're not going to swing out of the zone as much and stuff like that. 
"Knowing that stuff and being able to throw here for the last two-and-a-half years, it's definitely helped."

The Niskayuna, New York native tallied 15 outs on the ground against the Yard Goats. 
"I definitely had great defense on our side. Me and the catcher, Jeff Arnold, I give him a lot of credit because we just went after guys," Gage said. "We just wanted to attack early, and all of a sudden, we got up. Then it was just a dose of cutters, so that seemed to work a lot, I got a lot of ground balls and a lot of soft contact."
After retiring six straight to open the game, Gage worked around Dom Nuñez's single and a walk to Omar Carrizales by getting Rockies top prospectBrendan Rodgers to pop out to first to end the threat. 
The 10th-round pick in 2014 retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth before giving up a base hit to Anthony Phillips to open the sixth. Gage got Carrizales and Rodgers to go down looking for his first two punchouts of the evening before Drew Weeks' foul popout.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound hurler pitched around a leadoff single by Brian Mundell in the seventh and was aided by a double play after surrendering singles to Correlle Prime and Phillips to start the eighth.
Gage entered the final inning with 89 pitches and on a very short leash, but relied on third baseman C.J. Hinojosa to pick up the slack. Hinojosa made impressive plays on consecutive hard-hit grounders to start the ninth and Gage punched out Max White to end the game.

Hinojosa also contributed a double and an RBI single.
Rodgers, MLB.com's No. 10 overall prospect, went hitless in four at-bats in his Double-A debut after lighting up the California League by batting .400 in 48 games with Class A Advanced Lancaster.
"Many of the new prospects come through, but they all have the same approach … so you just attack him the same way," Gage said. "It's a game of adjustments, and if they make the adjustment, I just have to adjust back."