Lakeland's Hall puts up seven more zeros

Matt Hall might be in the midst of a career-best scoreless streak, but he doesn't want to take credit for the success he's had on the mound. 
"It's been a good experience, but it's not all on me," the 17th-ranked Tigers prospect said. "Our catchers are doing a great job holding runners and there's been a lot of nice plays in the outfield and infield as well. It's just been an all-around great team effort." 
Hall gave up two hits and struck out five over seven scoreless innings Saturday as Class A Advanced Lakeland topped Daytona, 4-1, at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The southpaw is unscored upon over his last 30 1/3 innings and has not yielded an earned run since May 23. 

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"The main thing first is fastball command. That's the most important part of being able to pitch. And being able to throw your secondary pitches for strikes when you're behind in the count, he said. "When you do fall behind you throw, not a great pitch, but one that's a for-sure strike, knowing that the defense is going to be behind you to make the play."
Hall faced the same Tortugas lineup 10 days ago, limiting it to two hits while fanning a career-best 11 over 8 1/3 innings. Not wanting to employ the same strategy, the 23-year-old took a different approach Saturday. He pitched more to contact, notching nine ground-ball outs. In all, Hall threw 52 of 88 pitches for strikes. 
"This time I pitched a little differently," he said. "I threw more fastballs, more changeups. I didn't really have my best stuff, but I had enough stuff to get the hitters out." 
Using that approach, the 2015 sixth-round pick retired the first 13 batters of the game, setting down six of them on three pitches or fewer. The Flying Tigers supported their starter with two runs over the first four innings, enabling Hall to stay at ease and "fill up the zone."
Daytona put the Missouri State product into the stretch in the fifth inning when No. 12 Reds prospect Chris Okey lined a one-out single to left field. Hall quickly evaded any trouble, getting Daniel Sweet to bounce into a double play. 
"It's a little different, I had been in the windup all game," Hall said, "but it doesn't change the game. Your motion's still the same, the distance stays the same -- you've still got to throw the ball 60 feet, six inches. My next thought was to get this ground ball, get a double play and we'll get right back in the dugout.
"I was like, 'OK, I'm going to throw this ball inside, keep this ball inside on him and hopefully get in on his hands.' Hopefully he inside-outs one to second base, which sure enough is what he did." 
With one out in the sixth, Blake Butler collected Dayton's second hit with a single to left. That was all the Tortugas mustered against Hall, who set down the final five hitters he faced. As the Independence, Missouri native, sat back in the dugout after the seventh, his scoreless streak was nowhere near his mind. 
"I was just like, 'OK, I did my job today,'" Hall said. "I had the utmost confidence in my bullpen to close the game out. The Flying Tigers are playing good baseball right now and everything's falling into place." 
Okey greeted 18th-ranked Tigers prospect Mark Ecker with a leadoff homer in the eighth, but the right-hander was able to close things out for Lakeland.

Hall, who sports the Florida State League's ninth-best ERA at 2.65, doesn't have any specific individual goals as he completes his second full professional season. The 6-foot, 200-pound hurler has put the streak low on his list of priorities. 
"Just kind of like what I did tonight -- just go out there and put my team in a position to win," he said. "If I do that, the numbers will take care of themselves."
Cam Gibson went deep on a two-hit day, while Jake Robson went 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored for the Flying Tigers.