Nate Smith's gem for Bees spoiled by Rainiers

[AngelsWin.com]

Nate Smith's Friday night was just short of perfection in more ways than one.

"It was an eventful game, to say the least," the Angels' third-ranked prospect said.

Heading to the bottom of the ninth inning, the only batter to reach against Smith did so on an infield dribbler that was ruled a hit but changed to an error after the game. Exiting after 8 1/3 frames, he wound up being charged with two runs on two hits in Triple-A Salt Lake's 3-2, 10-inning loss at Tacoma.

Because the error initially was ruled a hit, Smith (3-2) wasn't even thinking about a no-hitter. All he wanted was the win.

"It's a team game. Obviously, I wanted to get the win there, but Erik Kratz, the catcher, did a really good job," the 24-year-old left-hander said. "He worked really hard behind the plate and the defense made great plays behind me.

"I was attacking the strike zone. Kratz and I talked with Erik Bennett, the pitching coach, about the hitters, and the plan was to get strike one, get strike two. I just wanted to throw a bunch of strikes and make them hit the ball. I was trying to attack the zone."

The gem came one night after Tim Lincecum debuted with the Bees, and Smith picked up a little something from the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

"He's very approachable, a great clubhouse guy," he said. "I got to watch him last night. It helps to watch somebody with as much success as he's had. He just got here, so I haven't picked his brain too much, but I hope I get the chance to."

Smith's strong start also came on the heels of an ugly outing against Nashville -- he surrendered 10 runs -- nine earned -- over four innings on Saturday. A week later, he brought his ERA back down to 4.42.

"I was being a little smarter with what pitches I was throwing," he said. "It helped to have a plan and being more focused on the target and on the pitch. Obviously, you never want to be hit around, but when you do, you have to learn from it. It was an eye-opener in some areas. I worked a lot on my game during the week so that I could just execute my plan."

The error came to start the third inning, when third baseman Ryan Jackson mishandled Daniel Robertson's grounder. Even when it was on the scoreboard as a hit, Smith wasn't interested in playing "what if?"

"I was just trying to worry, in between innings, about who was coming up next and formulate my game plan," he said. "You never know how a game works. Say they don't rule it a hit. A couple innings later, I could have been throwing batting practice. I don't think about the game like that."

He set down the next 19 Rainiers.

"Once you start throwing strikes, it's easier to get into a groove; every pitcher will tell you that. I took it one pitch at a time. Every pitch Kratz threw down, I focused on executing that pitch," the 2013 eighth-round pick said.

After the eighth, Smith had thrown 96 pitches, but he said didn't feel at all fatigued.

"I didn't know my pitch count during the game," he added. "I came in after the eighth and Bennett asked how I feel. I felt great. I was trying to finish it out, but unfortunately, that's not what happened."

Smith opened the ninth with his seventh strikeout, but after a ground-rule double by No. 26 Mariners prospect Tyler Smith, Ketel Marte chased the southpaw with a single on his 109th pitch.

Al Alburquerque, who had six saves in his previous six chances for the Bees, gave up a game-tying single to Chris Taylor.

Patrick Kivlehan, who was traded from the Rangers back to the organization that drafted him on Sunday, hammered A.J. Achter's first pitch of the bottom of the 10th over the wall in left-center field to give the Rainiers the walk-off win.

[John Stellman]

For whatever reasons, he's been bypassed every time the Angels have the need for a starter. Go figure.

[Second Base]

The Angels don't want to start his service clock on meager spot starts for a non contending team. They've made it clear they value him and he's an option for the future.

[Jason]

He's also got a 4+ ERA so he may not quite be ready yet. No point in pushing him to hard.

[Angel Oracle]

33 minutes ago, Angels N Skins said:

He's also got a 4+ ERA so he may not quite be ready yet. No point in pushing him to hard.

Agree on not starting his service clock, but the ERA taking away the start against Nashville has to be pretty good for the PCL.

He truly seems to have somewhere around #4 starter potential for a solid rotation.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Interesting they Don't want to start his service clock but he could roll a season in the bully before he slipped into the rotation?.... Finley did it, Washburn did it, hell even that $#*+ bag Willie Fraser did it..... Or, maybe, we just don't do that kind of thing anymore....It's a bullpen breakdown/situational thing...I would almost rather he work on stuff and gain some experience than watch Alvarez any longer and we would save some $$$ along the way.....

[Docwaukee]

He's ready enough and could pitch at the big league level if called upon.  He got hammered at home twice giving up 8er and 9er in two starts for a total of 8ip.  2.45 era on the road.  There really is no point in starting his clock now though.  

[Chuck]

6 hours ago, Angels N Skins said:

He's also got a 4+ ERA so he may not quite be ready yet. No point in pushing him to hard.

Never look at ERA when evaluating pitchers in the AAA.

Heaney, Skaggs, Shoemaker and many others got pounded there before their promotion. 

[Inside Pitch]

10 hours ago, Angels N Skins said:

He's also got a 4+ ERA so he may not quite be ready yet. No point in pushing him to hard.

Remember last year when people were writing off Andrew Heaney because his stats at SLC sucked?  Well, just for comparison's sake....   

Pitcher   H/9 -- BB/9 -- K/9  

Heaney  8.4 -- 2.4 -- 6.6 

N,Smith  8.1 -- 2.1 -- 7.3

Raw ERA tells us pretty much nothing