Clifton remains consistent for Smokies

The Cubs' reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year is showing more of the same form in 2017.
Trevor Clifton turned in his second scoreless outing in four tries Tuesday, registering a season-high seven strikeouts over six innings, as Double-A Tennessee blanked Jackson, 8-0, at The Ballpark at Jackson. He allowed four hits and one walk.

Box score
Despite putting six zeros on the board, it was a battle throughout for the 21-year-old right-hander, who had to work out of the stretch in every inning.
Clifton issued a leadoff walk to Kevin Medrano in the first, gave up an one-out single to Kevin Cron in the second and plunked Kelly Dugan to begin the third, but he relied on four groundouts to strand the runners.
D-backs No. 4 prospect Dawel Lugo reached on a wild third strike in the fourth, Jamie Westbrook singled in the fifth and the Generals got hits from No. 14 prospect Victor Reyes and Cron in the sixth, but the 2013 12th-round pick found his swing-and-miss stuff and fanned six over his final three innings.

Clifton is coming off a full season with Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach, where he went 7-7 with a 2.72 ERA and 129 strikeouts over 23 starts. He posted four scoreless outing in his final five regular-season starts before helping the Pelicans repeat as Carolina League champions by allowing one run in two postseason outings.
Beginning the 2017 campaign with the Smokies, the Tennessee native has repeated that success with a 3-1 record and a 2.25 ERA that ranks ninth in the Southern League.
"I love it. I grew up watching the Smokies," he told the Knoxville News Sentinel last month. "Just to put this uniform on and go out there, I was watching those guys four years ago. Great to be part of the team now."
Gerardo Concepción struck out two in the seventh and Jhondaniel Medina worked around a hit and a walk in the eighth and ninth to finish off the Smokies' league-leading sixth shutout.
Jeffrey Baez and Yasiel Balaguert both homered and combined for five hits for Tennessee, while Charcer Burks chipped with three RBIs.