Kowar Moves to 5-0 as Omaha Wins Again

Jackson Kowar quickly admitted that his Friday start was more of a grind than the box score indicated.

He didn’t have his best command, he said. Still, he was good enough to improve to 5-0 in as many starts.

Kowar pitched into the sixth inning of Omaha’s 3-0 shutout of Indianapolis at Werner Park, lowering his earned-run average for his first Triple-A season to 1.01 by tossing five scoreless innings in the victory.

“I was able to make a lot of pitches deep in counts – a lot of 3-2, 3-1 pitches – to get me out of a little bit of trouble,” he said. “It was one of those games where I’d like to have gone a little deeper but just ran the pitch count up. I was really happy with the way I battled and made pitches when I needed to.”

Kowar retired the first 11 Indian batters he faced before losing Kevin Kramer to a base on balls in an eight-pitch battle in the fourth. He bounced back to strikeout Christian Bethancourt on three pitches.

Emmanuel Rivera’s bases-loaded, two-run single in the third gave Kowar a 2-0 lead to work with. The Storm Chasers starter held on to it by recording two outs after allowing back-to-back singles in the fifth.

Kowar hit Chris Sharpe with a pitch to open the sixth, then walked Ke’Bryan Hayes. Jace Vines came on to retire three straight batters to keep his starter’s outing a scoreless one. Vines then pitched himself out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh after he had walked three Indianapolis batters.

Gabe Speier and Jake Newberry kept the shutout intact by tossing one scoreless inning apiece. Ryan McBroom capped the scoring with a solo shot in the eighth inning – his third homer in as many games.

The win was the sixth in a row by Omaha, which improved to 14-7 on the season. The first-place Chasers padded their lead over Indianapolis in Triple-A East’s Midwest Division to three games with the victory.

Kowar’s opening five-game stretch has been, statistically, the best of his short professional career. He hasn’t allowed more than a run in any of his five starts and has struck out a league-high 36 batters.

His personal five-game winning streak is his best since his final collegiate season at Florida, when he won five consecutive Southeastern Conference starts. The year before, as a sophomore, he opened at 12-0.

Kowar said Friday that he let things get to him back then because he was worried about the wrong things. The advice he got from older players then, he said, was to enjoy it when you’re throwing well.

The Royals prospect said he’s taking that approach now as this season moves into its second month.

“I know I’m throwing well so I’m going to enjoy it and not use it as a negative,” he said. “If I try to hide from it, it’s just going to be in the back of my mind. I might as well admit, ‘hey, I’m throwing the ball well so let’s enjoy it.’ Let’s keep the momentum rolling. Let’s not shy away from the fact and make me more anxious or worry more about it.”