Ball wins third straight start for Salem

As lonely as the pitcher's mound can be, Trey Ball is more than happy to turn to his teammates for some help. 

The No. 18 Red Sox prospect allowed two hits, struck out six and induced six ground-ball outs over seven scoreless innings Sunday afternoon, pitching Class A Advanced Salem to a 6-1 win over Frederick at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium. 

"The key for me is to let the defense go to work," Ball said. "I've been keeping the ball down and letting them hit to the infield and getting ground balls and let the guys behind me do their job."

Ball got rolling early, retiring the first seven batters he faced. The streak was undone when Steve Wilkerson reached on a bunt single in the third.

"I felt like I was doing a pretty good job making pitches count and using the defense to get outs," Ball said. "After that bunt for a base hit, I didn't change anything and continued to attack the hitter."

The 21-year-old left-hander responded by striking out Jay Gonzalez, then got some from right fielder Mike Meyers, who threw out Erick Salcedo trying to stretch a single into a double to end the inning. He was able to parlay the momentum from the big play into eight straight outs and did not allow another hit all day.

"It was a hit-and-run and I was on my way to back up third base and I saw the ball come into the cutoff man, and he made a quick throw back to first to get him out. It was a great play by Mike and the infield," Ball said. "Having a defense that's making plays behind you helps pick up momentum from what could be a rally for the other team. It's a great feeling."

It was the second straight seven-inning performance for Ball (5-3), who allowed two runs on eight hits to get the win against Winston-Salem on June 18. Through 11 starts this season, the seventh overall pick in the 2013 Draft has a 2.29 ERA and 1.27 WHIP and has been especially hot of late, yielding two earned runs over his last 19 1/3 innings for a 0.93 ERA.

The numbers are encouraging for Ball, who spent the first part of the season in extended spring training in to recover from knee surgery in February. 

"It was a blessing in disguise to stay down in Fort Myers a little longer after having the surgery and prepare," the Indiana native said. "That and my slider, which I added back in July of last year, have been big helps for me this year. It's a good pitch for me to go to to get hitters to hit ground balls. I think it's coming along great. I'm still working on fine-tuning my curveball, but the slider's been a really good pitch for me this year."

Jamie Callahan relieved Ball in the eighth and allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts the rest of the way to get his first Carolina League save. 

Keys starter Franderlin Romero (4-1) took a no-hit bid into the sixth before Nick Longhi singled. The Red Sox scored all six of their runs in the inning, thanks to three Frederick errors. Joseph Monge delivered the big hit with a three-run double.