Bristol's Baz twirls five scoreless frames

After Pittsburgh selected Shane Baz 12th overall in the 2017 Draft, Pirates fans had to wait until the 2018 campaign to see what damage the club's third-ranked prospect could do in an extended start.
Baz gave them plenty to be hopeful for in his season debut.

Gameday box score
MLB.com's No. 57 overall prospect produced the longest outing of his professional career Wednesday, giving up four hits and three walks over five innings as Rookie-level Bristol blanked Greeneville, 11-0, at Pioneer Park.
Baz (1-0) had the advantage of taking the mound with a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. He induced three quick outs, forcing Nate Scantlin and Juan Martinez to ground out before fanning Cash Case. The right-hander walked Reniel Ozuna to start the second, but cleaned it up by picking off the right fielder at first.
Baz faced the minimum before giving up his first hit of the season, a leadoff single to left field by Miguel Hernandez in the third. After walking Brian Rey with one out, he faced runners on the corners when Scantlin grounded into a forceout, but he got Juan Martinez to ground out to escape the jam.
In the fourth, the 19-year-old gave up one-out singles in the fourth to Ozuna and Jonathan Willems, putting runners on the corners again, but Justin Bellinger grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Baz again put two runners on in the fifth as Hunter Oliver legged out an infield single and Scantlin walked with two outs. But he closed the door by inducing Martinez to ground out to third. The former Texas high school star threw 45 of 80 pitches for strikes en route to his first Minor League win.
Baz made 10 starts last summer and gave up more than one run only twice, but he never pitched beyond the third inning. He enters his second season with lofty expectations and a more liberal pitch limit.

"It doesn't put as much pressure on me," Baz told the Bristol Herald Courier earlier this month. "I'm pretty comfortable at all times. It's definitely nice to be considered with some really good players we have, but it's no pressure on me. I just take it with stride and don't listen to the media or Twitter or any of that, but it's pretty cool, for sure."
Argenis Romano struck out five and worked around three hits over three innings before Luis Diaz fanned two in a perfect ninth for Bristol.
Eddy Vizcaino led the Bucs at the plate with three hits and two RBIs.