Morimando tosses second straight shutout

Shawn Morimando is becoming accustomed to being the last pitcher standing.
For the second time in a row and third in his last four starts, Cleveland's No. 15 prospect tossed a nine-inning shutout to lead Triple-A Columbus over Toledo, 2-0, on Sunday. He scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out six.

In his last outing, Morimando (8-5) relied on the strikeout to go the distance, but the key for the New York native this time was efficiency. In addition to throwing 78 of 102 pitches for strikes, Morimando induced 12 groundouts and only allowed one runner to get into scoring position. 
The 2011 19th-round pick, who used 56 pitches to get through the first five innings, was actually being outperformed by his counterpart -- Toledo southpaw Matthew Boyd -- for the lion's share of the game. Boyd (3-1) gave up just one hit through the first seven innings, before Nellie Rodríguez took Boyd deep in the eighth.
Gameday box score
Pitching with the lead, Morimando delivered a six-pitch 1-2-3 eighth inning, affording himself the opportunity to pitch into the ninth for the third time in less than three weeks. 

Defense helped the 24-year-old out to start the bottom of the ninth as Columbus left fielder Daniel Robertson caught Tigers No. 9 prospectJaCoby Jones trying to stretch a single into a double.
After getting Jim Adduci to ground out to second base, John Hicks singled to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Michael Almanzar. Morimando got ahead of Almanzar, 0-2, and induced a groundout to second to cap his 18th straight scoreless inning.
The Ocean Lakes (Va.) product has produced a 3.40 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 15 starts for the Clippers and leads the International League with 103 1/3 innings pitched.
Boyd surrendered a run on two hits and struck out seven in eight innings.