Hernandez finding early success with Drive

There's much to learn between Class A and the Major Leagues, but in his second season in the United States, Darwinzon Hernandez seems to be an A-plus student. Greenville pitching coach Walter Miranda is more than a willing teacher.
"He has so much potential, he's a masterful kid with a good arm and throws hard," the 42-year-old Miranda said. "But we're trying to control that. He wants to throw harder, like any young kid, and we're trying to get him to realize that he doesn't need that to have success. His delivery is more under control and he's learning how to pitch."

Box score
The left-hander continued his impressive start to the season, tossing hitless ball for five-plus innings on Saturday night as Greenville edged visiting Rome, 3-2. He gave up an unearned run on two walks while striking out five, marking the third time in four starts that he's allowed one earned run or fewer.
Despite allowing two unearned runs in the sixth, Hernandez and reliever Daniel Gonzalez held the Braves hitless for 7 2/3 innings. Juan Yepez ended the no-no with a double to left for one of Rome's two hits in the game.

Hernandez was forced to work around minor trouble in the early innings before settling in. He issued a leadoff walk to Yepez in the second and plunked Braves No. 29 prospectBrett Cumberland to begin the third. A one-out walk to Anfernee Seymour, Atlanta's 30th-ranked prospect, put two runners on, but Hernandez retired the next two batters to keep Rome off the board.
The No. 25 Red Sox prospect cruised through the fourth and fifth innings, needing only 22 pitches, but he seemed to run out of gas in the sixth. He hit Seymour on a full-count offering to start the frame and was pulled after throwing 48 of his 83 pitches for strikes. A pair of Greenville errors allowed Rome to tie the game and deny Hernandez a chance at his second win of the year.

 "He was close to his max at that point," Miranda said. "It was a good, solid five innings and a strong outing. We wanted him to finish on a good note and take that positivity into his next start." <o:p>
It's been a solid beginning to 2017 for the 20-year-old, who's embarking on his first full season. Hernandez has a 3.38 ERA through four starts while striking out 25 over 18 2/3 innings. That's consistent with his work from a year ago when he fanned 58 in 48 1/3 innings for Class A Short Season Lowell, a rate of 10.8 per nine innings. That would have led the New York-Penn League if he had enough innings to qualify. On the flip side, his 6.7 walks per nine innings also would have topped the circuit, but Hernandez has cut that to 3.9 this season.
"He's continuing to get better and the more he pitches, the better he gets," Miranda said. "We're working on his mechanics and trying to control his effort level. Like many young, hard throwers, he feels like he needs to increase his effort to get out of trouble. We're trying to eliminate that. He just needs to keep himself under control and keep making good pitches.
"He's a hard thrower, but he has another three weapons he needs to develop. We're encouraging him to use those other pitches. He's still trying to figure out things in first year with a full-season club, but he's a young kind with a lot of talent. Hopefully, he gets better and gets out of here and to the next level fairly quickly."
No. 4 Red Sox prospect Bobby Dalbec singled and scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth on Nick Lovullo's bases-loaded groundout. Santiago Espinal and Yoan Aybar gave Greenville an early lead with back-to-back sacrifice flies in the third. 

Gonzalez (1-0) allowed an unearned run on one hit and a walk while fanning two over three innings. Stephen Nogosek, Boston's 23rd-ranked prospect, earned his fourth save, striking out one and working around a hit and a hit batter in the ninth.
After playing 18 innings the previous night, Miranda was happy to see his pitchers respond the way they did.
"To come back tonight and have a strong performance from the pitchers was impressive," he said. "We pitched well last night and kept that momentum going. It was great to see the relievers come back and do that."
Braves No. 24 prospect Bryse Wilson was charged with two runs on one hit and two walks while striking out five in four innings.