Carolina's Diplan, Peralta flirt with no-no

When Class A Advanced Carolina pitching coach David Chavarria peeked at the scoreboard after seven innings Monday, he wasn't all that shocked to see complete domination. With the stuff his charges Marcos Diplan and Freddy Peralta have, he considered it inevitable that they'd get a chance at a no-hitter.
"Both of them have quality pitches and both were attacking the zone really well," Chavarria said. "So it doesn't really surprise me when you look up and see a zero."
Hopes for history ended with Roman Collins' single in the eighth, but the 11th and 19th-ranked Brewers prospects and Nate Griep allowed just four hits and struck out 11 in a 2-1 win over the Blue Rocks at Frawley Stadium.

Box score
"That's what you hope for, but as a pitching coach or a manager, you've got to prep for kind of the bad thing that happens," Chavarria said. "And the bad thing isn't really a bad thing -- it's giving up a hit. You prepare for that also. You're hoping for [an no-hitter] because it's nice for those two guys to do it, because it is a special thing. But they still pitched extremely well."
The three Carolina pitchers outlasted A.J. Puckett and Wilmington's bullpen. The No. 11 Kansas City prospect gave up two unearned runs on one hit and four walks over five frames, and the Blue Rocks' relievers didn't allow another hit the rest of the way.
Diplan (1-0) got the start and made quick work of Wilmington, retiring six of the first seven. Much like last season, when he compiled a 3.02 ERA over two different levels, his 60-grade fastball and breaking pitches were deployed effectively in different counts.
"He was aggressive with his fastball, the slider was a good pitch for him," Chavarria said. "Overall, just mixing up his pitches. Sometimes he ran into some deep counts and that was him trying to do too much, coming out of his delivery too soon. When he was on, he executed the pitches in the zone when he needed to."
Some control issues came to a head in the third when the right-hander walked leadoff man Roman Collins and 24th-ranked Royals prospect Nicky Lopez two batters later. But Diplan escaped the jam by fanning D.J. Burt.
"It was just something that we teach the guys," Chavarria said. "It's not a physical thing. Just relax and execute the pitch. And that's what he ended up doing."
The native of the Dominican Republic faced no further trouble, retiring the next six hitters in order, finishing off his night with a strikeout of Wander Franco.
Diplan, who fanned nine in his final start of 2016, struck out five and walked three Monday. To Chavarria, the most impressive component of the performance was how the right-hander kept his nerves in check even though his team was struggling at the plate.
"I just think the whole start itself was great," Chavarria said. "Just the energy, what he felt like, the confidence factor, when he executed pitches. Realizing when he did make mistakes and how he was able to make the adjustments. The thing there that is big is carryover, the maturity level. So hopefully that carries on. One outing and it was excellent. Hopefully, he brings that confidence into his next outing."
Peralta took over the in sixth and brought the no-hitter into the eighth. But with the knock by Collins and two subsequent singles from Franco and Colton Frabasilio, the shutout also fell by the wayside. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Peralta set down the next three Blue Rocks.
The 20-year-old compiled a 3.62 ERA a season ago, but walked 36 hitters in 82 innings. After adjusting some mechanical flaws in March, Peralta looks to be more consistent in 2017.
"Delivery-wise, it was a lot better," Chavarria said. "He's been working on some things in Spring Training and it showed up tonight. His fastball was crisp, he threw the ball through the zone, had some nice sliders. It got him to throw pitches down in the zone. And actually his slider was much better because of the adjustments he made.
"It was a nice job by Peralta with his maturity, executing his pitches, slowing the game down when he felt it was speeding up. Just not trying to do too much and just letting his stuff play and throwing the ball over the plate."

In the ninth, Griep worked around a leadoff triple and struck out the side for his first save of the year.
Trent Clark walked, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly by Isan Díaz in the first to give Carolina the lead. Weston Wilson scored the decisive run in the fifth on a fielder's choice by Luis Aviles Jr.. 
Wilmington's Jake Kalish fanned four in three innings and Richard Lovelady went 1-2-3 in the ninth.