Guerrero tosses two-hit shutout for Barons

Jordan Guerrero crossed a few things off his list all at once on Tuesday, throwing his first career complete game, first shutout and first scoreless outing of the season.
He was perfect in all but two innings, giving up two hits and two walks while fanning four in Double-A Birmingham's 7-0 win over visiting Mobile.
"It was probably one of my best starts of my career. That feels good," the White Sox left-hander said after improving to 2-7 and lowering his ERA to 3.89. "I threw the ball over the plate and trusted in my defense to make plays, and the offense came up for me. I fell into my groove and pitched the game I know how to pitch."

Gameday box score
The 23-year-old Southern California native took sole possession of the Southern League lead with 88 strikeouts, breaking a tie with Pensacola's Tyler Mahle. Birmingham teammate and No. 2 White Sox prospectMichael Kopech has 82. For Guerrero, Tuesday marked the third time in 13 starts he fanned fewer than six. But punchouts weren't on his mind.

"The strikeouts will still come; I wasn't worried about striking people out," the 2012 15th-round pick said. "I wanted to go as deep as I can into the game and help our bullpen out. The bullpen has been throwing a lot the last couple games, so I was focused on doing my job and everything fell my way."
His ERA has dropped steadily over his last four outings.
"I've just been trusting my stuff and not trying to do too much," he said. "If you go out there and trust in your stuff and not worry about what's going to happen, good stuff is going to happen."
Case in point: the first five batters he faced Tuesday all grounded out.

"I'm just throwing the ball over the plate and letting them hit it," Guerrero said. "When you do that, you're trusting your stuff, and you have people behind you making plays for you."
Forrestt Allday was the first BayBear to reach, breaking through with an infield hit in the fifth. Zach Houchins walked on the next four pitches, but Guerrero said he never lost his rhythm.
"I didn't think I fell out of my groove. I didn't worry too much. I kept my focus and went in and attacked. If I gave up a run, I gave up a run. If I gave up a hit, I gave up a hit. But I was pitching the game I knew how to pitch," he said. "This game is all about failure. Hits happen. You can't worry about that. When I gave up the hit and then I walked the guy, it's just, 'All right, let's attack the next guy.'"
He did, setting down 12 in a row. The Barons sent six men to the plate during a lengthy two-run eighth, but Guerrero didn't fret over possibly getting the hook until he opened the ninth by walking Tim Arakawa and surrendering a one-out single to 14th-ranked Angels prospectMichael Hermosillo.
"It was just a matter of my pitch count or if I walked another guy or got the bases loaded. I would have been frustrated, but I understand they're not trying to hurt me," he said. "After the hit, I said, 'OK, there's one out. Let's just let him hit it.' I threw the right pitch that [catcher Alfredo González] called."
David Fletcher, the Angels' No. 10 prospect, bounced it to shortstop Eddy Alvarez, who began a game-ending double play.

Last week, Guerrero was named to the North Division squad for next week's Southern League All-Star Game. He has one more outing before then.
"I'm starting Sunday. I don't know what they have in store for me, but I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm looking forward to pitching on Sunday, and if I get to pitch in the All-Star Game, that'll be fun. If they tell me I can't, I'm still honored to be a part of it, and I'm going to go have fun being around all the other guys selected."
Nick Basto clubbed his ninth homer in the win, driving in two runs and scoring twice.