Travs' Sheffield takes no-hitter into eighth

Pitching in front of about a dozen family members, Justus Sheffield was on top of his game Saturday night.
The fourth-ranked Mariners prospect threw seven hitless innings before yielding a leadoff double in the eighth as Double-A Arkansas walked off with a 2-1 win over Tulsa at Dickey-Stephens Park.

The Tulsa-Arkansas series is an opportunity for family members to see Justus and his brother, Drillers reliever Jordan Sheffield, at the same time. On Friday night, the older brother picked up his fourth save by striking out the side in the ninth in a 2-1 win.
On Saturday, it was the younger brother's turn to shine.
Making his third start for the Travelers, Sheffield retired the first six batters before issuing a walk on a 3-2 pitch to Zach McKinstry leading off the third inning. Brandon Montgomery rolled into a double play and Drew Avans grounded out as the left-hander faced the minimum through three.
"I felt good in the bullpen," he said, "but there were some jitters with family being in town. They were a little rowdy last night, but with what was going on, they were quiet tonight."
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With one out in the fifth, Chris Parmelee drew a four-pitch walk, but Sheffield struck out Dodgers No. 26 prospect Cristian Santana and 30th-ranked Carlos Rincon popped to short to begin a stretch in which MLB.com's No. 74 overall prospect retired 11 in a row.
"I did know," Sheffield admitted. "Later in the game, the no-hitter crossed my mind, but I didn't think much of it. I wanted that complete game. ... It was definitely a fun game."
Staked to a 1-0 lead on an RBI double in the seventh by Mariners No. 15 prospect Dom Thompson-Williams, Sheffield gave up a leadoff double to center to top Dodgers prospect Keibert Ruiz in the eighth. With one out, McKinstry's grounder to second advanced Ruiz to third. Montgomery followed with a two-out RBI single to tie the game, but the 23-year-old struck out Logan Landon to end the frame.

Sheffield threw 64 of 98 pitches for strikes in the longest outing of his six-year career. He allowed one run on two hits and two walks while striking out eight.
The 2014 first-round pick started the season with Triple-A Tacoma and was 2-6 with a 6.87 ERA in 13 games, including 12 starts. With Arkansas, he's given up three runs across 20 innings with 24 strikeouts and four walks. If there is a glaring stat from his time in Tacoma, it's the 41 walks over 55 innings. When he was ahead in the count, batters hit .172; when he fell behind, that figure jumped to .322. Sheffield knows command of the strike zone is vital to his success.
"I felt good in Spring Training," he said. "Then I had a couple of rough starts at Tacoma and it just snowballed. Now I'm back to being me. It's about executing -- throwing pitches, hitting my spots. After that, whatever happens, happens.
"Walks are going to happen. I have to stay away from leadoff walks, two-out walks. I just have to take it one pitch at a time."

For the Sheffields, there was some trash talk before the series, but "maybe not as much as back in the day," Justus said. As for the postgame dinner on Saturday, he was noncommital as to whether Jordan would pick up the tab.
"I guess it depends on how generous he is," he said, laughing.
Arkansas pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as Mariners No. 7 prospect Kyle Lewis came through with a one-out, bases-loaded infield hit off right-handed reliever Yordy Cabrera. Joey Gerber (1-0) picked up the win, striking out two in his only inning.
One night after his 23-game hitting streak ended, fifth-ranked M's prospect Evan White was 2-for-4 for the Travelers.