Stripers' Allard shines in pitchers' duel

Through his first month in the International League, Kolby Allard found that Triple-A hitters come as advertised.
"About what you'd expect: they're a little bit more mature, they have a little bit more of an idea of what they're doing," the Braves' sixth-ranked prospect said. "Especially with all the advanced scouting these days, they know what you like to do and we know what they like to do. A lot of the times, it's just a matter of who goes out there and executes."
Allard, who has been rock solid at every level during a steady climb through the Minors, came with his best stuff Saturday night.

Gameday box score
MLB.com's No. 56 overall prospect scattered four hits and a walk while striking out five over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in Triple-A Gwinnett's 3-0 loss to Durham at Coolray Field. He threw 58 of 93 pitches for strikes without allowing more than one baserunner in any frame. Even after the game, the Anaheim, California, native continued to play it close to the vest
"Not going to give away all our secrets, but we went out there and established the fastball," Allard said. "Changeup was pretty effective tonight and I kept them off-balance with the curveball. All in all, it was pretty good. I was happy with the way I executed."
Allard has a 2.57 ERA with 18 strikeouts and a .156 opponents' batting average through his first four Triple-A starts, spanning 21 innings. He posted a 3.18 ERA as a teenager in the Southern League last season, breaking the 150-inning threshold in 27 starts.

The left-hander has yielded exactly four hits in each start this season. Saturday's performance marked his longest and first scoreless outing in the IL. He threw 85 pitches and worked into the sixth in a one-run effort against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on April 12.
"I felt like, a couple of the other games, I threw really well, just one inning or one bad pitch got to me," he said.
Allard threw seven of his first nine pitches out of the strike zone to start the game, issuing a two-out walk to Rays' second-ranked prospectWilly Adames. The first inning has given Allard fits in the early going as five of the seven runs he's allowed this season have come in the opening frame.
"I was just trying to go out there from the beginning and execute, not trying to go out and get a feel for things," Allard said. "Just got to go out there with that mindset of making good pitches, quality pitches."
He worked around Brandon Snyder's leadoff single in the second and a one-out double by Jason Coats in the third before pitching a 1-2-3 fourth.

The 2015 first-round pick surrendered a double to Adam Moore to start the fifth but recorded seven straight outs to get to the seventh. Allard's night concluded with Justin Williams' double to right on a payoff pitch. Right-handed reliever Evan Phillips snuffed out the potential rally and ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
Allard's counterpart, Forrest Snow, put together his third consecutive outing without allowing an earned run. The 29-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 1.25 in 21 2/3 innings, yielding two hits and a pair of walks over five scoreless frames Saturday night.
"[Snow] threw the ball really well, and we went out there and there wasn't really any long innings," Allard said, crediting his adversary with helping keep the game to just over 2 1/2 hours. "We weren't sitting on the bench too long. Me and [catcher Rob Brantly] got in a nice groove and we went out there and were making good pitches." 
The Bulls broke through in the nith for the game's only runs against left-hander Philip Pfeifer. Moore hit a bases-loaded grounder to shortstop Sean Kazmar Jr., whose throw to the plate was mishandled by Brantly. Micah Johnson added two runs with a single to right.