Augusta's Corry extends scoreless streak

Seth Corry picked up right where he left off, hanging zeros on the scoreboard. The southpaw extended his dominance through his fourth straight start -- a run of 23 1/3 innings -- on Sunday.
San Francisco's No. 9 prospect allowed two hits over seven innings as Class A Augusta defeated Hickory, 3-1, at SRP Park. He struck out seven and didn't issue any walks.

Corry (9-2) fanned MLB.com's No. 60 prospectJosh Jung on a pitch in the dirt to end a 1-2-3 first frame. In the second, Tyreque Reed hit the left-hander's 1-0 offering to right field for a single, but Corry picked up two more punchouts to end the frame. 
The Alpine, Utah, native set down 11 straight Hickory hitters -- six via strikeout -- until Jonathan Ornelas beat out a single to short in the sixth.
Corry needed only seven pitches in the seventh to retire the side. The 6-foot-2 hurler threw 78 pitches, 52 for strikes, while continuing another streak of fanning at least seven batters in his last six starts. 
Gameday box score
"Tonight was a huge jump because he was able to just pitch," GreenJackets pitching coach Clay Rapada said. "His stuff is plus stuff. He's had some starts where he's been able to get away with some stuff.
"It was a combination of sequencing, execution and really good in-game adjustments. It was more of a mental jump for him." 
Corry's stock has risen mightily in the past six weeks. On June 21, he was San Francisco's 25th-ranked prospect. After posting a 6-0 record in six July starts, the third-round selection in the 2017 Draft ascended to the No. 9 spot. That month, Corry allowed two runs over 33 1/3 innings for a 0.54 ERA.  
Rapada credited Corry's "consistency with his throwing program, being disciplined and trying to be great at that part of his game" for the left-hander's ascension through the Giants' prospect rankings. 
 "It's been a domino effect into his bullpens (sessions) and his games," the coach said. "'He's consistently staying out of deep counts and he trusts his stuff and he's aggressive in the zone." 
Seven of the 23 Crawdads Corry faced swung on the first or second pitch of the at-bat. Rapada credited his hurler's reputation for being a strike thrower early in counts. 
"Teams are trying to get to him," he said. "He's been able to locate pretty well down in the zone and off the plate a little." 
The southpaw has excelled with two outs in the inning. With a .104 batting average against, Corry sports a 0.32 ERA with 45 strikeouts in the past 28 innings.

Rapada said Corry has about 12 hours to revel in his scoreless streak.
"Enjoy it for a few hours, but then you have to hit the reset button and get back to work," the pitching coach noted. "It's not about trying to enjoy success from yesterday's outing or from weeks ago, you need to get to the next start. If you focus on the past, you can't get to the future." 
Corry leads the South Atlantic League in ERA (1.72), batting average against (.160), and punchouts (136) in 22 games. He ranks third in starts with 22 and wins. 
San Francisco's 20th-ranked prospect Franklin Labour went 2-for-3 with a two-bagger and two runs scored.