Smeltzer spins third straight scoreless start

Devin Smeltzer spent the first half-season of his pro career pitching out of the Rookie-level Arizona League Dodgers bullpen. He hopes he never has to go back.
The 21-year-old left-hander held his opponent without a run for the third consecutive start, allowing two hits and striking out a career-high eight over six innings in Class A Great Lakes' 9-0 win over Lake County. The outing also marked the first time Smeltzer ever worked into the sixth.

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"I love [starting] -- it's what I live for," Smeltzer said. "I have the starter mind-set. My routine has been the same with very few changes since I was young. I really feel like myself out there in a starting role and I've got to keep going with it. It's great to be back out there."
Smeltzer (1-0) cruised through the first four innings in perfect fashion, needing just 38 pitches to dispatch the first 12 Captains he faced, five of whom he struck out. Lake County leadoff batter Gabriel Mejia was a repeat victim, going down looking on three pitches in the first and swinging on four pitches in the fourth.

"Coming into the game, I watched video and looked at heat maps. My catcher [Keibert Ruiz] and I came together pregame and came up with our plan," Smeltzer said. "I went out there and executed what he was calling, had some trust in him and found some holes in their swings. I was just looking for early contact and taking the strikeouts when I had the opportunity to."
The first baserunner to reach against Smeltzer came in the fifth when Li-Jen Chu singled to center after falling behind, 0-2. Smeltzer recovered to get Emmanuel Tapia to ground into a forceout at second before striking out Jose Medina for the second time and getting Conner Capel to pop out to third. Even though he kept the scoreboard clean, Smeltzer wished he could have that pitch to Chu back.
"I had him 0-2 -- right where I wanted him -- and threw the pitch that needed to be thrown, but it was two inches too high," Smeltzer said. "If it was down there, it would've been a strikeout. I was disappointed to let up the hit, but if it was a little better executed, I think it's a different outcome."
Smeltzer showed no signs of fatigue in the sixth, fanning Luke Wakamatsu and Jorma Rodriguez before allowing a bunt single to Mejia. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound southpaw proceeded to pick Mejia off first base to get out of the inning and was pleased to make it through six on 66 pitches.
"I'll go all day every game if I'm feeling good," Smeltzer said. "Right now, we're on a pretty strict pitch count but slowly getting lengthened, and today I had a few extra pitches to work with and was able to go a little deeper. ... My mind-set has always been the same. ... I'm not trying to strike guys out, I'm trying to get the ball on the ground so I can go deep into ballgames."
The Dodgers' fifth-round pick in 2016 has always shown strikeout stuff -- he came in Tuesday with 25 career whiffs in 22 2/3 innings -- but Lake County entered the game with 146 strikeouts in 17 games, the second-lowest mark in the Midwest League. That mattered little to Smeltzer.
"I had command of [all five pitches] today; they were all sharp," he said. "The biggest thing is getting ahead in the count, getting guys off balance and changing speeds -- that's what I've been known for from my college days, continuing to hit spots and making sure I get ahead early."
After being drafted 161st overall last year, Smeltzer worked solely out of the bullpen in 2016. He had tossed 91 2/3 innings in just over four months, going 9-3 with a 1.18 ERA and 128 strikeouts for San Jacinto College in Texas. He was 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA in 11 appearances in Rookie ball, but struck out 12 in 10 2/3 innings.
"I had a pretty heavy college workload, so they just wanted to get my feet wet in pro ball," Smeltzer said. "They had me on strict innings [and going] once a week -- I got shut down pretty early, so it's nice to be back out starting."

Great Lakes led, 1-0, after Smeltzer's final pitch of the night, then the Loons put up an eight-spot in the bottom of the sixth. Dodgers No. 27 prospectBrendon Davis led off with a home run and Mitchell Hansen drove in two with a single four batters later to knock out Lake County starter Shane Bieber.
Ruiz contributed an RBI single and Davis added a two-run knock before 24th-ranked Carlos Rincon singled home a run. Cody Thomas plated one with a double to cap the scoring.
Bieber (2-2) allowed five runs on seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings before Henry Martinez was tagged for four runs on five hits and one walk in one-third of a frame.