Watkins falls two outs short of no-no

Spenser Watkins came close to a historic moment Wednesday night.
The Detroit right-handed prospect was within two outs of a no-hitter in the second game of Class A Advanced Lakeland's doubleheader with Charlotte. He finished up with one hit, one walk and seven strikeouts over seven innings in the 4-0 victory to sweep the double dip at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Gameday box score
"I kind of had a feeling it was happening," he said of the no-hit bid. "Throughout until about the fourth inning, I noticed a lot of weak contact and kind of realized and looked at the scoreboard and saw a bunch of zeros. Around that fourth inning, I kind of realized it wasn't just a first couple of good innings or just getting through the lineup one time, I was starting to get going in the second time through the lineup and still zeros."
The 2014 30th-round pick retired the first 14 batters he faced before walking Jake Fraley with two outs in the fifth inning. Watkins (5-2) cruised with a strikeout in each of the first four frames.
"You have to not think too much," he said. "I kind of had a gameplan going in and I just stuck to that gameplan with what I saw from the hitters with the kind of looks they were also giving me. I just stuck to the gameplan, not trying to do too much, just keep it in the zone and keep it simple."
Fraley was caught stealing to end the fifth, ensuring Watkins still faced the minimum. He sat down three in order in the sixth, but after a groundout by Miles Mastrobuoni to start the seventh, 10th-ranked Rays prospectJosh Lowe broke up the no-hit bid with a single to right field. Watkins responded by striking out Kevin Padlo and getting Tristan Gray swinging to end the contest.
"My best pitches tonight were my four-seam and two-seams," said Watkins. "I was able to command both of those on both sides of the plate, up and down in the strike zone. Just kind of it was one of those nights I was able to put it wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. "
The 25-year-old right-hander was coming off three starts in a row in which he gave up two runs, but he's only allowed more than that twice this season -- once in an outing for Triple-A Toledo on May 5. In another spot start for the Mud Hens on May 31, he allowed one hit over five scoreless frames.
"The room for error up there is much different than it is down here," Watkins said. "I was able to take that knowledge and understanding of what room you have to work with and bring it here of how to attack hitters, what pitches work best off what. I learned more in those two starts than maybe the first four years of my career."

The Western Oregon product only needed to throw 78 pitches -- 56 for strikes -- in Wednesday's shutout.
"I just got ahead with the fastball, and with the off-speed if I needed to," he said. "If I was starting to get in a pattern, I went with that. I tried to stay ahead in the count, I don't think I had many three-ball counts. Everything was maybe one-ball. Getting ahead and staying ahead was the greatest key to success."
Cam Gibson drove in two runs and Andres Sthormes added an RBI for the Flying Tigers.
Ninth-ranked Detroit prospect Gregory Soto (4-2) allowed one run on three hits over five innings as Lakeland won the opener, 4-1.