Sounds' Gossett throws eight shutout innings

Since the start of the season, Athletics No. 5 prospectDaniel Gossett has been looking for a start he could build on.
On Monday night, he found it.
The right-hander threw eight shutout innings, giving up four hits and fanning six without a walk in Triple-A Nashville's 9-3 win at Sacramento.

Gameday box score
"I've been kind of hit-or-miss this season so far, so it was good to get a good, solid one under my belt," Gossett said.
After climbing from the Class A Advanced California League to the Pacific Coast League over the course of last season, the 24-year-old has a 3.59 ERA through nine starts this year. Monday marked his first scoreless outing of 2017 and the longest of his career.
"We've been working on staying in rhythm, not to force it but to try to find the rhythm early and stay with it throughout the game," Gossett said. "We've got an awesome coaching staff and great catchers who were there giving me a constant reminder to stay in rhythm and not to overthink things."

But the Clemson product ran into trouble early, allowing a baserunner in the first inning and another in the second, followed by back-to-back singles by Juan Ciriaco and Kelby Tomlinson with one out in the third. He got out of it at the expense of two rehabbing big leaguers, getting Conor Gillaspie on an infield grounder and Aaron Hill on a punchout.

"It was huge. The offense was putting up big numbers, but it was good to buckle down and not let the situation take hold of me," Gossett said. "I felt like I was kind of forcing things early, trying to make stuff happen. Later, I was able to relax, throw the ball, not try to make anything happen."
The 2014 second-rounder retired the final 14 batters he faced, all the while focusing on rhythm and not overthinking.
"It's not easy. It's not hard. It's one of those things you can't explain," he said. "You can only sit back and observe, and your mind wants to tell you to feel what you're feeling, that you have to keep replicating. But you say, 'Stop thinking. You haven't been thinking all game.' It's a constant battle, but that's like any outing." 
Gossett (2-2) wrapped up the eighth on 91 pitches, including 62 strikes.
"Obviously, I would have loved to go back out," the Lyman, South Carolina native admitted, "but that's completely out of my control, so there's no point in worrying about it. It's so far out of my control, it's not even funny. I was prepared to go back out, but I got the handshake, and there's no point in arguing about it."

Matt Olson, the A's No. 15 prospect who went 4-for-4 with a homer and a double on Sunday, clubbed a three-run jack for his 11th dinger of the year and added an RBI single.
Matt Chapman, ranked fourth in the system and No. 91 overall by MLB.com, socked his ninth homer, and Oakland's 18th-ranked prospect Joey Wendle went yard for the second time in three games.

"Unreal. They're unreal," Gossett said. "That makes it a lot easier to go out and throw, when you have guys like that, 1 to 9, and not to mention their defense behind me is unreal as well."
No. 17 San Francisco prospectAustin Slater and No. 27 Ryder Jones both scored a run.