Tate turns it up in scoreless start for Trenton

On a night when his first-place parent club started a pitcher who was his teammate a few days ago, Dillon Tate threw his name into the conversation about potential rotation options in the Bronx with his own brilliant outing for Double-A Trenton.
The Yankees' ninth-ranked prospect gave up four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings as the Thunder dropped a 5-4 decision to Erie on Friday at Arm & Hammer Park. Tate (4-2) recorded a season-high 10 strikeouts, falling one shy of his personal best, a mark he set last July with Class A Advanced Tampa.

Already in possession of a fastball that profiles as a plus pitch, Tate has worked to develop his changeup and slider. Trenton pitching coach Tim Norton said that he's begun to notice some fine-tuning in those secondary offerings and has been impressed by the right-hander's ability to adjust on the fly.
"He kept them guessing. I think he was attacking guys. Definitely right at lefties, keeping them honest with that heater, so that stuff was going good," Norton said. "He had a stretch earlier in the game, maybe second or third inning, where each slider was getting a little big. ... We talked about it and he went out there and made a really good adjustment and started to throw some better ones. It was just in-game adjustments that he makes to get through innings and pitch deep into the game."
The 24-year-old right-hander did not produce a clean inning through the first five, pitching with two runners on in the first, second and fourth. Following Will Maddox's one-out single in the third, Tate got a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play to quell the threat. He was burned by Kody Eaves with a fourth-inning single and a stolen base before Chad Sedio was plunked, leaving the UC Santa Barbara product to wriggle out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts. 
"I think it's just getting through some tough innings, making pitches when he needs to and finishing games off," Norton said. "There's always that one or two innings, it could be early on or later, that get really jammed up and you just got to make a pitch. Dillon's been doing that."
Gameday box score
Tate pitched around Jacob Robson's double in the fifth and fanned two in a 1-2-3 sixth before striking out Jake Rogers to lead off the seventh. The Harbor City, California native entered the bout with Rogers having thrown 96 pitches but felt confident after punching out the fifth-ranked Tigers prospect in his first two at-bats.
"I did like the matchup; I saw he finished that sixth inning pretty strong," Norton said. "We had a talk about how he felt and he said he's got some more in the tank and he was going to empty it."
The winning battle required eight pitches and Tate exited having thrown 68 of 104 offerings for strikes, working into the seventh for the third time this season.
The fourth overall selection in the 2015 Draft has 12 starts in the Eastern League and the ninth-best ERA on the circuit, as Friday night's performance lowered the mark to 3.11 in 66 2/3 innings. He hadn't posted a scoreless outing since May 14 but has registered quality starts in six of his past seven games, allowing 10 runs over that 44 1/3-inning span.

"He's got a good stretch going, for sure. It seems like every time he's giving at least six and putting together some quality starts," Norton said. 
Justin Kamplain took over for Tate and was charged with five runs -- four earned -- all in the eighth.
Tigers No. 19 prospect Sandy Baez (1-5) earned his first win of the season after yielding two runs on five hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out four.
Tate's effort came as 23-year-old Jonathan Loaisiga made his Major League debut at Yankee Stadium against the Rays. The Nicaraguan right-hander began the season with Tampa and made six starts with Trenton before getting the call. He held Tampa Bay scoreless over five innings, allowing three hits and four walks while striking out six.