Pena proves almost unhittable for 66ers

Luis Pena's ERA might not give the impression that he's been pitching well, but Class A Advanced Inland Empire manager Chad Tracy thought those numbers would match his effort sooner rather than later.
The Angels righty took a step toward proving his skipper right Thursday.
Pena allowed a hit and four walks while fanning six over a career-best seven scoreless innings as Class A Advanced Inland Empire topped Modesto, 2-1, at San Manuel Stadium. It marked the first time in four professional seasons that he recorded an out after the sixth inning. 

Gameday box score
"It was his best start of the season. No doubt, no question about it," Tracy said. "His alignment was good, pretty much throughout the entire game. He put it all together and pitched a very nice game. ... He had all [of his pitches] working. Mainly he's a fastball and slider guy, but he also has a good changeup he can use. His slider was working and he was landing it for strikes. He also got some swings on it below the zone, got guys to chase it for strikeouts. He was able to land his changeup against lefties.
"Typically when you go seven shutout innings, you usually have all of your stuff working and he definitely did." 
The 21-year-old carried a 6.00 ERA through his first 10 starts, but trimmed it to 5.24 with his latest performance. The third-year skipper said the start could be a turning point in Pena's season. 
"Quite frankly, I think he's done a pretty good job for us all year," Tracy said. "He's had some games where he's given up three or something in five innings, but it could have been worse. He seems to make pitches in those spots to turn in a serviceable outing. But to go out there and get seven innings in, with a young kid, there's no doubt at all that it's going to help his confidence." 
The right-hander came out on a roll and retired the first eight hitters. Ricky Eusebio reached on a two-out walk in the third, but Pena got No. 13 Mariners prospectBraden Bishop to ground out to shortstop.
The first real test came in the fourth when Chris Mariscal ripped a leadoff double to left field. The native of the Dominican Republic worked out of trouble and struck out two of the next three hitters.
Pena threw a spotless fifth on seven pitches and navigated around a leadoff walk in the sixth to Eusebio as Bishop grounded into a 5-4-3 double play and Mariscal whiffed on a 2-2 offering.
With the 66ers up in the seventh, 1-0, the Nuts looked to break through. Eric Filia drew a one-out walk and Seattle's 24th-ranked prospect Gianfranco Wawoe followed suit with two down. Pena stranded the runners by fanning Joe DeCarlo on a 3-2 pitch.
"Michael Wuertz, our pitching coach, and I are talking through the whole inning," Tracy said. "We're going to have to make a decision there -- it's a tough one. Do you give him one more hitter? He's pitched so well and it's his game. You'd hate to see someone come in and give up a hit and he gets a loss without him being out there. It was tough, he was right on the brink and he gets a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch on an elevated fastball and he gets himself out of the inning. Just very impressive with the poise and the ability to execute pitches in that spot." 
Pena, in his second full professional season, continues to work on mechanics between starts. According to Tracy, the 5-foot-11 hurler will have similar outings if he remains consistent in his delivery.

"The constant work with him is alignment and making sure his alignment stays good to home plate," Tracy said. "He's got kind of a lot of things going on in a max-effort type delivery. ... With him, it's always focusing on getting down the slope and really stay on line to home plate. When he does that, his arm works out front real nice and everything stays around home plate."
Modesto tied the game in eighth when Arturo Nieto homered off reliever Samil De Los Santos (1-0), but the 66ers prevailed on Cody Ramer's walk-off triple.