Honeywell puts six more zeros on board

After his start against Indianapolis on June 29, Brent Honeywell Jr. sported a 4.91 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. In his seven starts since then, both of those numbers have dwindled substantially.
Tampa Bay's top prospect allowed a pair of hits and struck out six in six scoreless innings en route to Triple-A Durham's eventual 4-2 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

"I'm back to normal now, instead of getting beat day in and day out. I've got back to the way I normally pitch," Honeywell said. "My confidence is always there, it doesn't matter if I get beat. It's something you need to carry with you everyday on the mound. In the beginning of the year, even when I was getting whipped in the beginning of the year, my confidence was still up. I was just making bad pitches."

Over those last seven outings, MLB.com's No. 14 overall prospect has posted a 0.93 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP with 51 strikeouts and only seven walks in 38 2/3 innings.  
The 22-year-old right-hander made quick work of the RailRiders in the early going, recording 10 straight outs to open the game.
"I was in a groove for a little while, nothing really extreme," Honeywell said. "I just stayed in the zone and used their aggressiveness against them and made them put the ball in play."
Gameday box score
Donovan Solano's one-out double in the fourth inning put Honeywell in a jam, but he was bailed out by left fielder Shane Peterson, who threw Solano out at home on Tyler Austin's two-out single. 
Honeywell went back into cruise control for his final two frames, retiring the side in order in both innings on just 19 pitches, giving him his 10th quality start since joining Durham on April 19. The 2014 first-round pick didn't allow a walk and threw 52 of 70 pitches for strikes. He faced only one three-ball count. 
"There's a time and place to pitch to contact and tonight was one of them. But other times, why not strike guys out when you can?" Honeywell added.

The 22-year-old has produced a 3.38 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP through 23 starts between Durham and Double-A Montgomery this year. The Georgia native ranks second in Minor League Baseball, trailing only Oklahoma City's Wilmer Font, with 160 strikeouts and has fanned 32 percent of the batters he's faced this year while walking only 6 percent.
"It's coming to the end of the year and my body feels good," Honeywell said. "You just need to remember that everybody's been doing the same thing as you since Spring Training, so this is when you start seeing the good guys take over. The guys who stay in shape and do the right thing and stuff like that."
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RailRiders starter Nestor Cortes Jr. allowed an unearned run on one hit and struck out eight in 4 2/3 innings.
Ji-Man Choi hit a two-run double in the seventh and a two-run go-ahead homer in the ninth for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.