Buehler notches 10 strikeouts for Drillers

In an era largely dominated by hitting, Walker Buehler and Foster Griffin delivered a classic pitching duel between two of the Minors brightest young hurlers Sunday.
Buehler (1-2) struck out a career-high 10 -- including five consecutive batters -- and allowed two hits over five innings in Double-A Tulsa's 2-1 loss to Northwest Arkansas at ONEOK Field. On the other side, Griffin (5-1) scattered five hits and two walks over six scoreless innings for the Naturals.

Gameday box score
The fourth-ranked Dodgers prospect didn't allow much more than Samir Dueñez's two-run homer en route to the hard-luck loss. Although MLB.com's No. 81 overall prospect has yet to go past the fifth inning due to pitch-count restrictions, he hasn't allowed more than two runs in all 13 starts this season, the first five with Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga. 

"I was just trying to throw the ball over the plate and establish three or four pitches," Buehler told the Tulsa World. "I had a good fastball today and the breaking balls were around the zone, that's all you can ask for. I just have to do something about the home run ball."
The 24th overall pick in the 2015 Draft got off to a blazing start by striking out the first five Northwest Arkansas batters on 27 pitches -- 21 for strikes. Buehler notched three more punchouts in the third. He surrendered a leadoff single to Royals No. 23 prospect Corey Toups in the fourth, and Duenez, the Royals' 17th-ranked prospect, blasted his 0-1 offering over the fence in right-center field for his 10th home run.

Buehler's 10 strikeouts gave him 71 in 52 innings across two levels this season, an average of 12.3 whiffs per nine.

Countering the 22-year-old on the mound was the Royals No. 20 prospect, who continued to excel since his promotion to Double-A. Griffin struck out six and lowered his ERA to 1.93 in six Texas League starts. The 21-year-old has won four straight starts, not giving up more than one run in five of his six Double-A outings.
Zach Lovvorn, Tim Hill and Jake Newberry combined to allow one run, three hits and a walk over three innings to preserve Northwest Arkansas' win.
Quincy Latimore's single in the seventh scored Matt Beaty all the way from first with the Drillers' only run.