Owlz's Rodriguez tosses five one-hit innings

After a couple starts, Chris Rodriguez figured out a key to pitching in the Pioneer League, and he's been nearly untouchable since.
"It's nothing much. I'm just learning how to get the ball down in the zone," the Angels' ninth-ranked prospect said, "and I've had good coaching and the catching has been really good. [Harrison Wenson] was calling great pitches and that really [made a difference] for me."
Rodriguez turned in his second straight scoreless start, yielding one hit over five innings and striking out four without walking a batter in Rookie-level Orem's 12-4 romp at Grand Junction on Wednesday.

Gameday box score
"I was ecstatic," he said. "It's great when all your stuff is working."
Wenson backed him with two homers and four RBIs while going 3-for-5 with three runs scored and Torii Hunter Jr. Jr. hit his first professional long ball in his second straight two-hit performance.
"This is probably the best hitting team I've ever been on," Rodriguez said. "Torii Hunter has developed huge from Spring Training and Wenson is just hitting, seeing it well. Everybody came through with the bats -- it seemed like everybody had a hit. It's a pitcher's blessing to have a team like this."

Of course, there's a downside to that blessing: the Miami native had to sit through a four-run top of the first and run-producing rallies in every inning he worked except the fourth. It made it a challenge to maintain his rhythm, he said.
"I want to say yes. As long as you keep yourself warm, keep the blood flowing, you're fine. That's what being a professional is -- you've got to adjust to an outcome," he added. "I know with this team there's going to be long innings, so you've just to got to adjust. You can never have enough run support. It makes it easy when they score nine runs in the first few innings. That helps a lot."

Rodriguez, who turns 19 on July 20, induced three consecutive groundouts in the first and worked a 1-2-3 second.
"Today was more attacking batters. I threw a lot of first-pitch strikes," he said.
He fanned the first two in the third before 17th-round Draft pick Nic Motley stroked a double on a 2-2 pitch to put Grand Junction in the hit column.

"It was a good piece of hitting," Rodriguez said. "He kept his hands inside and I missed a little high. You've got to tip your cap to him and laugh it off. A hit's a hit, that's baseball. You've got to just lock back down and go after the next guy."
He did, retiring the next seven in a row, a stretch that took him to the end of his night. Working under a five-inning limit, he threw 40 of 51 pitches for strikes.
"But still, you never want to give up that ball," Rodriguez said. "You always want to be out there for the sixth and seventh if you can, but at the same time, it's a process. You know it's a process and you've got to just work with the plan."
Shael Mendoza homered in his second straight game for the Rockies, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.