Threshers' Romero twirls seven one-hit innings

After three strong months in the South Atlantic League earned him a promotion late last month, JoJo Romero has maintained his impressive pace through five starts with Class A Advanced Clearwater.
The Phillies' No. 18 prospect hurled seven one-hit frames, walking two and striking out five, as the Threshers defeated Fort Myers, 3-0, on Saturday at Spectrum Field. He lowered his ERA in the Florida State League to 2.22 and has struck out 29 over 28 1/3 innings while holding opponents to a .224 average.

Gameday box score
Against he Miracle, the left-hander showed a good feel for the plan of attack that brought him success in Lakewood, using his sinker-changeup combination to produce 11 outs on the ground.
"Early in the first inning, I kind of threw one and it came out of my hand nice and smooth," Romero said. "Usually once I start to feel that early on it's kind of like, 'OK, it's going to be a good day' when you're getting all those groundouts."
In 13 starts before the promotion, the 2016 fourth-round pick got batters to hit the ball on the ground 58.1 percent of the time, opposed to his 47.3 percent rate in the Florida State League.
"When I got here, I kind of didn't really have as much feel for [the sinker]," Romero said. "These last couple times, it's felt pretty good and it's working really well. That's kind of why my ground out numbers were so high."
Not only were grounders coming in bunches for the 20-year-old, he said they were coming early enough in the count for him to get into his usual fast-paced rhythm.
"It's something I've always done. Today, I got back into that groove and I think that was a big difference," Romero said. "My last couple [starts] were still on beat but didn't have that quick rhythm that I usually have."
The California native debuted for Clearwater with consecutive starts in which he did not allow an earned run but was tagged for nine runs -- seven earned -- in his next two outings. Romero (3-2) has made seven starts this season without being credited for a run and Saturday's effort was his fifth scoreless outing. 

Romero struck out four through 4 1/3 perfect innings before walking Zander Wiel. Sean Miller followed with a fly ball to right and Jaylin Davis skied to center to end the fifth.
Fort Myers built a threat against Romero with two outs in the sixth when Tanner English walked and Jermaine Palacios singled for the Miracle's first hit of the night and second baseman Grenny Cumana booted Mitchell Kranson's grounder to load the bases.
"They were good pitches and they didn't hit them hard, either, they just squeaked on by," Romero said. "I just had to remind myself to stick to what I've been doing. At that point, you just have to stick with what you've been doing the whole game and it'll take care of itself."
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Romero got No. 14 Twins prospect Brent Rooker to bounce into an inning-ending forceout and finished his outing with a 1-2-3 seventh after 98 pitches, 64 for strikes.
Aaron Brown and Luke Leftwich each pitched an inning to complete the shutout for Clearwater as Leftwich struck out the side in the ninth for his eighth save. Jan Hernandez went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, his 15th, for the Threshers.