Fisher Cats' Borucki works seven clean frames
Ryan Borucki found himself in a familiar spot on Saturday.Eleven days earlier, the Blue Jays' No. 14 prospect surrendered four runs in the seventh inning to spoil an otherwise solid start against Double-A Hartford. He had held the Yard Goats scoreless through six again on Saturday before giving up a leadoff
Eleven days earlier, the Blue Jays' No. 14 prospect surrendered four runs in the seventh inning to spoil an otherwise solid start against Double-A Hartford. He had held the Yard Goats scoreless through six again on Saturday before giving up a leadoff single in the seventh to
"It was the same situation," Borucki said. "Their catcher, Nunez, was coming up and he hit it in the same exact spot and started off the inning the same way as last time."
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There was only one difference.
"This time, I shut the door and stopped the bleeding," the left-hander said.
Borucki yielded three hits and struck out seven over seven innings, matching his longest outing of the season and pitching New Hampshire to a 2-0 victory over Hartford at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.
The 23-year-old had to battle for much of the evening, thanks to a pair of errors and three hit batters. He retired the side in order just once -- in the second inning -- and even then was helped when left fielder and third-ranked Toronto prospect
Borucki hit
"I was just trying to make pitches down in the zone, trying to command the outside part of the plate," the Illinois native said. "I didn't have the inside part of the plate as well as I usually do, but I was controlling arm side to righties and glove side to lefties. I was making them hit my pitch.
"A couple pitches here and there I was pulling off a little bit, so I would miss arm side. Other than those couple pitches, I was commanding the outside part of the plate really well today and I had really good command of my off-speed pitches. I was getting changeups over in fastball counts."
Borucki owns a 1.94 ERA over 46 1/3 innings through seven Eastern League starts since a July callup from Class A Advanced Dunedin. While he has added elements to his game, such as a pickoff move and improved slider, he said the majority of his success has come from sticking to what earned the promotion from the Florida State League.
"When you come up here, you don't know what you're going to expect," the 2012 15th-round pick said. "I've just been pitching my game. It's not really overpowering. I'm just mixing my pitches, trying to control one part of the plate and making them hit my pitch. So far, I've been lucky enough to have them hitting my pitches that I want."
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Alex Kraft is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and chat with him on Twitter @Alex_Kraft21.