M-Braves' Wentz scalds Jumbo Shrimp

Joey Wentz describes himself as a process-oriented person. Between starts, he completes a bullpen session and watches film. Every fifth day, he steps on a mound and tries to throw the ball better than the other team swings their bats. "If they hit it well," he said, "they hit it well." Results do not alter the process.
"I trust myself and trust what I do," Wentz said.
In that spirit, Atlanta's No. 12 prospect -- five days after allowing seven earned runs -- retired the first 18 batters he faced Thursday and went seven scoreless frames for Double-A Mississippi in a 2-1 win over Jacksonville at Trustmark Park. He allowed one hit and one walk in the seventh, then worked out of a jam to drop his ERA to 4.13.

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"The one before tonight wasn't great, but there's still no reason for me to get out of routine and make some drastic change," Wentz said. "I'm not looking to change what I do. I still want to go at hitters, and tonight, I had some success."
Wentz aimed to be aggressive with his fastball, and as the Jumbo Shrimp hacked away early, the strategy worked. His defense got the first six outs, two on the ground and four in the air. The 21-year-old fanned Rodrigo Vigil and McKenzie Mills in the third inning, then only needed 18 pitches to get through the fourth and fifth.
Wentz and Mills battled with two outs in the sixth. Mills fouled the first pitch off then looked at strike two. Another foul. Then the southpaw blew the fourth pitch by the opposing hurler -- hitting his spot low and away -- for his fifth and final strikeout of the night.

"When you're going well -- I'm not going to say it's effortless -- but you get in that groove," Wentz said.
At no point did the 2016 competitive-balance pick dwell on the fact that he was working on perfection. He just wanted to keep giving the team innings, he said. And Wentz did that even after losing the perfect game and no-hit bids in the seventh.
He walked Magneuris Sierra on seven pitches to lead off the frame. Corey Bird followed with the Jumbo Shrimp's first hit, a single to left field. But Wentz got Justin Twine to fly out to left and Joe Dunand to ground softly to third. Even though the runners advanced on the play, Stone Garrett then grounded back to Wentz, who tossed over to first base to end the threat.
It was a bounceback outing for the Kansas high-school product, who allowed 10 earned runs over his last two appearances. He went just three innings before his last exit and was taken deep thrice in the previous start. He had not pitched into the seventh yet this year.
Cold streaks, though, have not been common in Wentz's career. With Class A Advanced Florida last season, he allowed more than two earned runs in consecutive starts just once.

"It's a tough game and I don't want to get mental with it," Wentz said. "That's where, I think, guys get into funks and things go south. We talk about it with Dennis Lewellyn, our pitching coach, about how you don't need to go out there and reinvent the wheel. Do what you do well and you'll have success."
Huascar Ynoa allowed a run on two hits with three strikeouts in the final two frames for his first save.
Mississippi went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, but Ryan Casteel knocked in Drew Waters on a groundout in the first and Ray-Patrick Didder plated Connor Lien with a sacrifice fly in the second.