Thunder's Sheffield twirls best outing of season

Justus Sheffield had to learn a lot in adjusting to Double-A this season. And after a tough stretch, he appears to be putting it all together on the mound.
In his best start of the campaign, the Yankees' No. 6 prospect allowed an unearned run on three hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings as the Trenton Thunder topped the Portland Sea Dogs, 6-2, on Sunday at Hadlock Field.

"He's been outstanding, especially the last two starts, he's been really outstanding. He only just turned 21, so he's learning a lot, but he's learning how to pitch and not just throw," Thunder manager Bobby Mitchell said. "He's mixing his pitches a lot better now, he's hitting his spots better, he's keeping the ball down a lot and he's able to throw his secondary stuff in hitters' counts."
After starting the season with a 1.56 ERA through his first three outings, Sheffield (4-2) hit a rut. MLB.com's No. 71 overall prospect yielded four or more runs in his next four appearances as his ERA ballooned to 4.21.
Mitchell said one bad inning often spoiled Sheffield's starts over that span. Trenton pitching coach Jose Rosado worked with the southpaw on shaking off bad at-bats so that they wouldn't snowball into bad innings. After that, he gave up one run over 6 1/3 innings on May 22 against Reading.
Gameday box score
"He's such a perfectionist, which is a good thing to an extent. Before, you could see he would throw a pitch where he wouldn't like where a location was, then he would throw another [not perfect] pitch to try to make [it better]," the manager said. "He's growing up in a way. Now if he makes a bad pitch, he knows he can do better. He's gained a lot of confidence in the last two outings on his breaking ball and throwing it for strikes and getting swings with his changeup in hitters' counts."
Sheffield put that latest lesson on display against the Sea Dogs, holding early damage to a minimum. In the second inning, Josh Tobias knocked a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder's choice. But the lefty induced Rafael Devers to ground into a forceout and Nick Longhi to fly out to get out of the inning.

The Tennessee native proved even sharper in the fourth after Jeremy Barfield laced a leadoff single. Sheffield retired the next 11 batters as he cruised into the seventh.
"He was obviously disappointed, giving up the unearned run because he thought he was out of the inning, but it didn't faze him, he just got back into it," Mitchell said. "He throws hard, he's got the stuff, it's just a matter of locating and pitching with a lot of confidence, which he always does, but also making adjustments to get out of innings without giving up a number of runs."
Mitchell joked that Sheffield gets "really mad" when he gets taken out of games, but added that the 5-foot-11 hurler understands he's got to be even better if he wants to stay in the game longer. Sheffield tied a season high with the six punchouts while not allowing an earned run for the first time since his season debut April 12 against Akron.
"He's a fast learner and has made a lot of adjustments in just a short amount of time," the skipper said. "Jose's doing a great job with him and we see big things for him as the season goes along. Then obviously, he has a bright future, just has to keep working on stuff and pretty soon, he'll be in the big leagues."
While the game was close most of Sheffield's outing, the Thunder broke it open with a four-run sixth. Miguel Andújar led the squad offensively by going 3-for-4 with a homer, a double and two RBIs.
Devers, the top Red Sox prospect, drilled a solo shot out of the stadium for the Sea Dogs.