Moss unhittable for six frames for Lookouts

Look out below, Scott Moss is heating up on the mound.
Cincinnati's No. 15 prospect threw six hitless innings, striking out nine -- including seven Smokies in a row at one point -- while walking four in Double-A Chattanooga's 3-2 win over Tennessee on Monday night.

Moss extended his scoreless-inning streak to 11 after throwing five shutout frames on May 1 in Birmingham.
Gameday box score
The 24-year-old said he was able to execute his pitches and throw them where he wanted to.
"I knew that my mechanics were there," Moss said. "It's one of those starts where you can kind of throw anything up there and balls are going to do what they do. And it's trusting in yourself then to realize it and just keep command of the zone."
After walking Vimael Machin with one out in the first inning, the southpaw fanned the next seven consecutive hitters before issuing a walk to Roberto Caro with two outs in the third. Moss also struck out a pair in the fourth to complete his season high total, with Jared Young and P.J. Higgins whiffing a second time. 
The University of Florida product couldn't specifically remember striking out that many batters in a row in a game before. 
"Maybe back in high school when I was just throwing fastballs," Moss said.
The Reds' fourth-round pick in 2016 threw 50 of his 91 pitches for strikes to lower his ERA to 3.86. He's walked 26 batters over 28 innings this season in the Southern League. 
"Before today, it was 22 walks in 22 innings. That's not acceptable for anybody and especially myself," Moss said. "I'm my biggest critic, so seeing that walk total steadily increase was not a happy sight for me."
The native of Deltona, Florida, attributed his walk total to staying in line and finding the direction of the plate.
"This whole year, I've been fighting myself more than anything," he said. "I've been going after games and just kicking myself for not being able to figure out what's going wrong during the game."
Moss said the proverbial light bulb came on during his hitless start, when he figured out 95 percent of his walks come from what he called getting away from his arm.
"I kind of run, and balls just drift and fly off on me," he said. "And it's more of getting my glove to the target and getting down the mound especially, to get where I need it."

Last year, Moss went 15-4 with a 3.68 ERA in 25 starts. He struck out 112 while walking 41 batters over 132 innings. He was named a Midwest League All-Star in 2017 after posting a 13-6 record with a 3.45 ERA for Dayton, striking out 156 and walking 48 in 132 2/3 frames.
Moss thinks that with his mechanics now more in line, he'll start to see strikeout totals and percentages similar to what he had against Tennessee.
"I knew that if I stayed on a line," he said, "that number should stay there the whole year."
Chattanooga's no-hit bid was broken up in the seventh when Charcer Burks grounded a two-out single up the middle against reliever Joe Mantiply. The Lookouts snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Reds No. 25 prospect Ibandel Isabel. Sixth-ranked Tyler Stephenson singled in Isabel, then scored on a three-bagger by Gavin LaValley.