Reed outdoes himself in three-hitter

Things are going so well for Cody Reed, he's accomplishing feats the Class A Cougars haven't been able to do in more than a decade.
Arizona's No. 19 prospect tossed a complete-game three-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk as Class A Kane County topped Quad Cities, 1-0, on Thursday at Northwestern Medicine Field.
The nine-inning shutout marked the left-hander's first as a professional as well as the first by a Cougars pitcher in 13 years.

Fresh off throwing eight scoreless frames last Friday, Reed (3-1) held the River Bandits to one baserunner through the first four innings. Though he surrendered a single to Marcos Almonte and a walk to Raymond Henderson in the fifth and a single to Rodrigo Ayarza in the seventh, the 20-year-old did not allow any of them to get past first base.
"It was really the same gameplan [as my last start]," Reed said. "Go out there, throw strikes, and locate in and out. Make sure my breaking ball is getting over for strikes, make sure my changeup is getting over for strikes."
Reed was unsure whether his coaches would allow him to keep pitching after he retired the side in order in the eighth. Hoping to sway their decision, the 6-foot-3 lefty displayed some extra emotion on his way to the dugout.
Kane County pitching coach Rich Sauveur told Reed he was going the distance.
"He said, 'Are you all right?'" Reed recalled. "I said, 'I'm good to go,' and so he said, 'Keep going.'"
Gameday box score
The Alabama high school product threw 16 pitches of his 95 pitches in the ninth, finishing with a strikeout of Astros No. 28 prospectStephen Wrenn.
After Reed's teammates hugged and gave high-fives to their pitcher, the 2014 second-round pick shared the praise.
"My defense behind me, they were a huge, huge part of that game," he said. "Some of those catches in the outfield and then in the infield, [turning a] big double play in the seventh. Without those, that game might not have happened right there. They were just as fired up as I was."
Reed, who has yielded only seven hits over his last two starts, completed the Cougars' first complete-game nine-inning shutout since Travis Peterson on Aug. 31, 2004. The feat was not lost on Reed.
"It's a heck of a feeling to go out there and do something like that," the Alabama native said.

Mark Karaviotis delivered an RBI double in the seventh off reliever Carlos Sanabria (0-1).
Quad Cities starter Forrest Whitley, the Astros' fifth-ranked prospect, allowed one hit, fanned six and walked one over five frames. Reed said he enjoyed battling the River Bandits' righty early on.
"It's always fun to have a pitchers' duel," Reed said. "It makes it more interesting. When a team goes up there and scores 13, 14 runs in the first three innings, the game kind of feels like it drags on. Having a close game like that is always exciting."