THIS FROM MiLB.com:
Early struggles for Kolby Allard forced him to take a step back and find his touch again at a lower level. But some advice from his father, Kenny, has helped guide him back to where he should be.
The fourth-ranked Braves prospect, pitching on his 19th birthday, turned in his first scoreless outing at the Class A level in Rome's 7-2 win over Hickory on Saturday at L.P. Frans Stadium. He yielded four hits and two walks while striking out nine over six innings in his fifth start since returning to the South Atlantic League on July 20.
"I established my fastball early and my changeup was working today to complement my fastball well," the left-hander said. "Everything just kind of fell in place. I threw the ball well and [Jonathan] Morales did a good job behind the plate, and it helped the team get the win. And that's the ultmate goal."
The 2015 first-round pick worked around some early trouble with a pickoff in each of the first two innings.
"It's always good when you can get some almost free outs, when you don't have to throw at the hitter," he said. "I know that's one of the parts of my game that I've been trying to improve on, so it's good to see that pay off a little bit in a game situation."
The third presented the biggest threat to Allard as singles by Ti'Quan Forbes, Sherman Lacrus and Rangers No. 9 prospect Eric Jenkins loaded the bases with one out. MLB.com's No. 69 overall prospect struck out Frandy De La Rose and Carlos Arroyo to escape unscathed.
"Whenever there are runners in scoring positions, you just have to tell yourself to take a deep breath and bear down. And that's what I did in those situations," Allard said. "I made some good pitches and eventually got out of it, and that got me into a groove a little bit."
"I went down to Danville and threw the ball pretty well," he said. "And when you are throwing up zeros, even though that stuff is not in your control, you can force their hand a litlte bit. Ever since I've kind of gotten that little groove of pitching every five days, I've improve and improved. And, hopefully, now we can keep it rolling."
While Allard kept Crawdads silent, his batterymate, Morales went 5-for-5.
"He played hell of a game," Allard said. "He did a great job behind the dish, calling pitches, and obviously had himself a day at the plate, so hat's off to him."
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SUNDAY'S MINOR LEAGUE SCHEDULE
CLASS AAA
Louisville 9, Gwinnett 4
SP: Teheran 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER(2R), 0 BB, 5 K
Portuondo 1.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Moran 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Mateo 1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Lalli 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Lipka 1-3, 2B, 2 OF assists
Bonifacion 2-4, R, RBI
Kubitza 1-3, 2B, R, RBI, BB
Brignac 2-2, 2B, R
Ruiz 0-5
CLASS AA
Mississippi 6, Jacksonville 2
WP: Bradley (7-5) 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K
Pfeifer 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Phillips (Save, 2) 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
Peterson 2-5, 2 HR (10th,11th), 5 RBI
Albies 2-5, R, RBI
Swason 1-5, R
Odom 2-4
Lien 2-4, R, BB
ADVANCED CLASS A
Carolina 8, Myrtle Beach 6
Led 8-0; 8-run 4th
WP: Withrow (7-6) 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
Salazar 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
O'Neal 0-2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Quintana (Save, 1) 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Obregon 3-4, 3B, R, RBI, BB
Demeritte 0-2, R, 3 BB, 2 K
Davidson 1-5, R, RBI, 4 K
Moss 2-4, R, 2 RBI
Gebhart 2-5, R, 2 RBI
CLASS A
Hickory 6, Rome 1
LP: Fried (7-6) 4 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 3 HR
Caicedo 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Custred 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Neslony 1-3, R
Herbert 1-3
Josephina 1-3
SHORT-SEASON
Danville 11, Burlington 2
WP: Walker (2-1) 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Orozco 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
McCreery 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Gonzalez 3-4, 3B, HR (2nd), 4 RBI (.316)
Osuna 2-4, HR (4th), 3 RBI (.348)
Pache 1-5, R, 3 RBI
Cumberland 0-4
Hearn 2-5, 2 R, RBI
Mooney 3-3, 3 R
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GCL Braves, DSL Braves idle
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