Fisher Cats' Reid-Foley puts up seven zeros

With a tough first half behind him, Sean Reid-Foley put together the type of outing that could provide some momentum for the remainder of the season. 
The Blue Jays' No. 2 prospect scattered four hits, walked two and struck out five in a season-high seven scoreless innings to lead Double-A New Hampshire to a 5-1 win over Binghamton on Friday night.

"Tonight is something to build off of," New Hampshire pitching coach Vince Horsman said. "In the beginning of the year, he maybe thought he could overpower teams here, but the level of competition at Double-A is very high. But we're not going to change who he is and he'll stick to his true identity as a pitcher."
The right-hander said he's still "trying to find it right now."
"I'm just trying to give my team the best chance to win and have some fun with it," Reid-Foley said. "If I fill up the zone, I'm effective and if I don't, I'm not. That's just how the game of baseball is. I am just trying to go out there to do my best to make it easy for my defense and for them to have fun behind me."
Reid-Foley (4-5) struck out Luis Guillorme to begin a 1-2-3 first inning. After a one-out single by Tomás Nido in the second, the 21-year-old retired seven in a row before issuing a walk to Matt Oberste with two outs in the fourth.
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"My changeup was working tonight and then after the fourth inning my curveball started to become effective, so I started to rely on those two pitches more as the game went on," Reid-Foley said.

MLB.com's No. 55 overall prospect kept the Rumble Ponies at bay in the fifth and sixth, earning the chance at getting through seven innings for the first time since he went 7 1/3 for Class A Advanced Dunedin last July 3. After retiring David Thompson with the first pitch of the seventh, the native of Guam allowed a single to right by Gustavo Nunez and was visited by Horsman.
Whatever was discussed seemed to work as Reid-Foley needed just three more pitches to finish arguably his strongest outing of the year. 
"He asked me if I wanted it or if I wanted someone else to finish the inning," the Florida high school product said. "I give all the kudos in the world to my bullpen, but I told him 'I got it.'"
In 14 starts this season, Reid-Foley has a 4.70 ERA and 1.47 WHIP with 60 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings. The 2014 second-round pick struggled out of the gate as he managed to go five innings in just one of his first six starts and sported a 7.80 ERA as recently as May 4. 

Last season, Reid-Foley did a stellar job at limiting homers and walks. In 115 1/3 innings between Class A Lansing and Dunedin, the 6-foot-3, 220 pounder averaged 0.31 homers and 2.51 walks allowed per nine innings. 
This year has been a different story. Coming into Friday's start, he was averaging 1.20 homers and 4.47 walks per nine.
"Right now, me and Horsman are working on getting over the baseball and filling up the zone," he said. "After that, you can't control anything. Once the ball leaves your hand, it is what it is."
Horsman praised Reid-Foley's willingness to adjust and improve. 
"We've made some adjustments to his delivery because he was overstriding a bit and the ball was flattening out," Horsman added. "But there's always work to be done and he's a great student who is eager to learn."
Blue Jays No. 14 prospect Harold Ramirez went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI, while Gunnar Heidt hit a three-run blast for New Hampshire.