Rome's Anderson strikes out career-high 11

Things had not been going well on paper for Ian Anderson this month. The Braves' No. 6 prospect sported a 6.88 ERA with 19 strikeouts and an opponents' batting average of .358 in four previous May appearances.
But he started to turn things around Thursday.
Anderson set career highs with 11 strikeouts over six innings en route to Class A Rome's 6-2 victory in 10 innings over Augusta at Lake Olmstead Stadium. The right-hander allowed one hit, one walk and hit a batter.

"I've been feeling good, but the results haven't been there," Anderson said. "[Rome pitching coach Dan Meyer] just told me, 'Keep grinding, keep going out there every fifth day and things will turn around.' It's great to have someone backing you up like that. It felt great to go out there and show what I can do."
Gameday box score
In nine starts this season, the first-round pick in last year's Draft sports a 3.73 ERA over 41 innings with 59 strikeouts -- third-most in the South Atlantic League. Anderson's previous single-game high for punchouts was eight, accomplished in his first two starts of 2017.
"Getting ahead for the most part and being able to put them away with the curveball was the biggest thing for me," the 19-year-old said. "Being able to throw it so that it looks like a strike and have it dive out of the zone, it was a big pitch for me and that all comes from getting ahead and attacking the hitters."
MLB.com's No. 77 prospect never dealt with more than one man on base at a time. He was perfect the first time through the GreenJackets lineup and struck out the side in the third.
Augusta's Johneshwy Fargas walked on five pitches to lead off the fourth, but was promptly thrown out by backstopLucas Herbert trying to swipe second. Anderson surrendered a single to Sandro Fabian before getting Kelvin Beltre and Frandy De La Rosa to strike out looking.
"You just try to keep it up throughout the game. We were able to grab a lead early on and that's always nice," the Rexford, New York native said. "I just got to keep doing what I was doing -- stay in the rhythm, stay in the groove and just kind of trust my stuff."

The side was retired in order in the fifth on nine pitches. He sat down Zack Bowers swinging and Brandon Van Horn looking to open the sixth, and plunked Fargas on a full count before getting Fabian to bounce out to end his day. 
Anderson, who threw 56 of 88 pitches for strikes, was in line for his third win before Jaret Hellinger allowed a leadoff double by Beltre and uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score. 
The Braves put the game out of reach in the 10th on a three-run double from No. 29 Braves prospect Brett Cumberland and a two-run single by Justin Ellison.
Cumberland also plated a run-scoring single in the third. Randy Ventura added a double, two singles and two runs for the Braves.