Ducks' Springs ties career high with 10 K's

Jeffrey Springs failed to make it out of the first inning in his last start for Class A Advanced Down East, but a strong support system helped him bounce back quickly.
"Last week was just one of those things," the Rangers left-hander said. "Baseball is a very humbling game and I've realized that over my career, probably better than most. But the pitching and coaching staff, they believe in me and trust what I do, and that goes a long way as far as the five days in between starts, putting in the work to get ready for the next outing."
Springs (1-5) tied a career high with 10 strikeouts over six scoreless innings in the Wood Ducks' 8-1 win over the Buies Creek Astros on Monday night at Grainger Stadium. He surrendered two hits and four walks to earn his first victory this season. 

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"It feels great to get back in the win column and give my team a chance to win," Springs said after posting his first win since July 10 with Class A Advanced High Desert. "The biggest thing we feel, as a starting pitching staff, is it's our job to get deep in the game. It's our job to set the tone."
The 24-year-old threw a first-pitch strike to nine of the first 13 batters, but also had to pitch out of the stretch in the first five innings.
"It's a great team that we are playing," Springs said. "Buies Creek swings the bats really well, so I'm just trying to make those small adjustments from inning to inning, pitch to pitch, not allowing the beginning to spiral and not allowing them to put up crooked numbers.
"The defense helped me out tremendously. I was able to make some pitches to get some ground balls. We got a huge double play [in the fifth] and some soft-contact plays that they just made behind me. That really helped me out a lot."
The 2015 30th-round pick recorded his ninth and 10th strikeouts while setting down the side in order in the sixth to match the career best set May 3 against Potomac.
"I'm a guy who just speeds guys up and slows them down," Springs said. "And I feel like I've tried to protect who I am. I'm not a big-deal guy or anything like that, so I've got to rely on just making my pitches and really trying to do what works for me."
Last Tuesday, the Appalachian State product lasted two-thirds of an inning against Carolina, allowing seven runs on three hits with three walks in an 11-2 loss. The Belmont, North Carolina native credited a few tweaks in his delivery for the quick turnaround. 

"The key to success tonight was probably just pitching to both sides of the plate and establishing fastball into my glove side," he said. "And being able to spin the breaking ball early in counts and just trying to get two strikes as quickly as possible. That's kind of our pitching philosophy."
Jacob Shortslef struck out four over three innings en route to his first save of the season. The right-hander gave up a solo home run to Astros No. 26 prospect Jason Martin in the ninth. 
Rangers No. 13 prospectJosh Morgan and Eduard Pinto had three hits apiece while Michael O'Neill homered and drove in three runs for the Wood Ducks.