A's Luzardo continues to stifle big leaguers

Jesus Luzardo's first two spring appearances were quite impressive. They paled in comparison to his third.
MLB.com's No. 12 overall prospect struck out six over 2 2/3 hitless innings, walking two batters and hitting another as the A's topped the Rangers, 4-1, in Spring Training action on Tuesday at Hohokam Stadium.
"He's so aware of what he wants to do, and you really like to see that," A's manager Bob Melvin told MLB.com. "You've got a veteran guy like Nick Hundley behind the plate, and he's shaking at 3-2 changeups. That's a big part that impresses me, but so does his stuff. And every time he's on the mound he looks more and more comfortable."

The top A's prospect issued a leadoff walk to Delino DeShields before striking out Joey Gallo and watching DeShields get thrown out trying to steal second. He closed the inning by getting Matt Davidson to fly to center field.
The 6-foot southpaw struck out the first two batters he faced in the second inning before walking Logan Forsythe, but he bounced back quickly to fan Jeff Mathis. After plunking Willie Calhoun to lead off the third, Luzardo retired Rangers No. 12 prospectEli White and DeShields on strikes before exiting.
"You look for the nerves or whatever, first big league camp, and we haven't seen a sign of it," Melvin told MLB.com. "Comes in the dugout between innings, very cognizant of what's going on, has conversations with the catchers, the pitching coaches. A lot of times, younger guys, it goes in one ear and out the other, but he's locked in."

In other spring action:

Yankees 5, Braves 1
Braves No. 2 prospect Kyle Wright had his hands full in his second Spring Training outing, facing a lineup that included Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Troy Tulowitzki.
"The better the hitters are, almost the more you have to attack," Wright said after throwing three scoreless innings. "Getting ahead of those guys is key."
Wright, MLB.com's No. 30 overall prospect, held the Yankees mostly silent, striking out three and allowing a pair of hits. Wright faced 10 batters after throwing 35 pitches over two scoreless innings in his Grapefruit League debut on Feb. 27 against St. Louis.
"I really just tried to attack the zone the best I could and get ahead in the count and make better pitches and hopefully put them away," Wright said. "It comes down to attacking the strike zone. I feel like last year, whenever I was struggling a little bit, I fell behind counts, gave guys free bases. Whenever they get their counts, they usually don't miss their pitches, they know what they're looking for."
Wright pitched around a two-out single by Stanton in the first, getting Judge looking before striking out Luke Voit swinging to escape trouble. He got Gleyber Torres to hit into a double play to end the second and struck out Tulowitzki, who is hitting .375, to wrap up the third.
"I had a good feel for my cutter and breaking ball today. I just had to trust it," said Wright.

Ian Anderson, the Braves' No. 3 prospect, allowed one run in two innings, and 26th-ranked Jacob Webb pitched around a hit and walk in a scoreless frame. Chad Sobotka, Atlanta's No. 21 prospect, was charged with four runs on two hits and a pair of walks while recording two outs. No. 28 Alex Jackson was the Braves' only ranked prospect to manage a hit.
Yankees top prospect Estevan Florial went 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. Box score
Phillies 2, Cardinals 1
Phillies No. 13 prospect Arquimedes Gamboa went 1-for-1 and 28th-ranked Edgar Garcia struck out one of the two batters he faced in a walk-off win in Clearwater. Top Cardinals prospect Alex Reyes allowed a run on a hit and two walks in one frame out of the bullpen in his first game action since May 30. He later underwent surgery to reattach a tendon latissimus dorsi muscle. Edmundo Sosa (No. 12) and Max Schrock (No. 28) each had hits for St. Louis. Box score

Pirates 10, Orioles 4
The future of the Pirates infield was on display in Sarasota as a quartet of prospects led Pittsburgh past the host Orioles. Second baseman Kevin Kramer -- the team's No. 6 prospect -- smacked a solo homer, first baseman Will Craig (No. 15) delivered a two-run double, third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes (No. 2) contributed an RBI triple and shortstop Cole Tucker (No. 5) went 1-for-2. Orioles No. 4 prospect Austin Hays went 1-for-3 and is batting .353 in Grapefruit League play. Box score
Blue Jays 5, Tigers 2
The Tigers lost the game but got a strong performance from fifth-ranked prospect Daz Cameron. The 22-year-old outfielder went 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored, lifting his spring average to .400. For the visiting Blue Jays, Billy McKinney drew a pair of walks and No. 3 prospect Danny Jansen went 1-for-3. Box score
Twins 9, Rays 2
Twins No. 10 prospect Nick Gordon doubled in his only at-bat. Rays No. 11 prospect Lucius Fox went 1-for-2, while Jesús Sánchez (No. 4), Nate Lowe (No. 8) and Brandon Lowe (No. 9) combined to go 0-for-5 with five strikeouts and two walks. Box score
Red Sox 8, Nationals 4
Ninth-ranked Red Sox prospect C.J. Chatham went 2-for-4 with a double while playing the whole game at shortstop in West Palm Beach. No. 3 Bobby Dalbec went 1-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, while top-ranked Michael Chavis was 0-for-2 with a punchout. No. 22 Bobby Poyner retired all three batters he faced in relief, 17th-ranked Travis Lakins struck out one and allowed a hit and a walk in one frame. Top Nationals prospect Victor Robles went 1-for-3 and is hitting .333/.435/.556 in eight spring games. No. 30 Kyle McGowin struck out one in 1 1/3 perfect innings out of the Washington bullpen. Box score
Marlins 3, Mets 1
In his third spring start, Marlins No. 5 prospect Sandy Alcantara worked around a hit and four walks with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Jordan Yamamoto (No. 18) allowed a run on two hits with two walks in two frames. Riley Ferrell (No. 20) fanned two in 1 1/3 one-hit innings. José Quijada (No. 28) got the save after allowing a hit while fanning one in a scoreless ninth. Third-ranked Monte Harrison worked a bases-loaded to give the Miami an insurance run in the eighth. Box score
Padres (ss) 7, White Sox (ss) 4
Eloy Jiménez, MLB.com's No. 3 overall prospect, made a diving catch and drilled his first Cactus League homer in the White Sox loss. Zack Collins (No. 12) also went yard. Caleb Frare (No. 25) fanned one as he retired both batters he faced. Padres No. 9 prospect Logan Allen got the start, allowing a hit and a walk in 1 2/3 scoreless frames. The southpaw was hit on the left quad by a grounder off Jimenez's bat in the second. He walked the next batter before being pulled for precautionary reasons. Box score

Angels 9, Cubs 2
Top Angels prospect Jo Adell came on as a pinch-runner for Mike Trout and scored a run, then singled in the eighth. Eighth-ranked Matt Thaiss also singled and scored. Box score
Indians 11, White Sox (ss) 0
Sixth-ranked Indians prospect Yu Chang singled in a run in the seventh inning and lifted a sacrifice fly in the eighth. No. 16 prospect Oscar Mercado went 1-for-2 with an RBI single in the eighth. Third-ranked White Sox prospect Dylan Cease allowed two hits in a scoreless inning in his Cactus League debut. No. 25 prospect Bernardo Flores relieved Cease and gave up two runs and three hits with one strikeout in two frames. Jordan Stephens (No. 20) yielded one hit over two scoreless frames before Kodi Medeiros (No. 19) allowed a solo homer to Carlos Santana in his lone inning Box score
Brewers 1, Rockies 0
Rockies No. 13 prospect Justin Lawrence fanned one in an inning of hitless relief. Box score
Mariners 7, Padres (ss) 7
Mariners No. 14 prospect Jake Fraley put his squad on the board with a solo homer off Padres No. 12 prospect Cal Quantrill in the third inning and added a two-run double in the sixth. Padres No. 4 prospect Francisco Mejía went 3-for-3 with his first spring dinger, a double and a pair of RBIs. Josh Naylor (No. 11) doubled and scored for the Padres, while 15th-ranked Hudson Potts notched a base hit and scored a run. Owen Miller (No. 26) went yard in the ninth for San Diego. Box score