Howard stymies Giants again in shutout

Sam Howard roared to the finish line last year in his first full professional season, posting a 9-1 record and 2.39 ERA in his last 13 starts for Class A Asheville. The flourish was so good, he didn't want to wait until the second half of 2016 to experience something similar.

The Rockies' No. 24 prospect continued his stellar start to the year with his second 10-strikeout performance, allowing two hits and three walks over a season-high eight innings on Saturday as Class A Advanced Modesto beat San Jose, 8-0.

"Every season until now I've kind of started out slow, but I finish strong," the 2014 third-round pick said after leveling his record at 3-3. "I wanted to start this season out like I've been ending seasons and give consistent, quality starts every week for my team. It's a good feeling, but I've just got to stay grounded and keep working from here."

The Giants may hope that work won't come against them. On May 13, Howard fanned a career-high 10 over seven innings against San Jose, and he was back at it on Saturday.

"It's definitely not easy pitching against a team twice a couple weeks apart," he said. "The hitters learned some stuff about me the first time, and I learned some stuff about them. I just kept that in the back of my head. If I made a mistake on a pitch the first time I faced them, then I knew I was going to change it up tonight against them. The guys who got some hits off of me last time, I pitched them a different way and just remembered what they did to me the first time."

In their first meeting, Howard allowed two runs on four hits, all by Johneshwy Fargas, Jonah Arenado and Brandon Bednar. Fargas wasn't in the lineup for Saturday's rematch, but Arenado and Bednar combined to go 0-for-6 against the lefty.

Howard found a rhythm with his catcher, No. 8 Rockies prospect Dom Nunez, after battling some command issues early.

"I had three walks in the first three innings and I was a little frustrated with that," the Georgia native said. "When I got in the dugout, Dom was telling me, 'Hey, let it go. That inning's over. You got out of it. Let's go get the next guys in the next inning. Get strike one, and we'll go from there.'"

Jose Vizcaino Jr. doubled with two outs in the fourth, but he was the last Giant to reach base against Howard. The southpaw retired his final 13 hitters and recorded five groundouts against four in the air.

"[Nunez] knows this team, so we had a pitch sequence to use the first two innings and the first time through the lineup," Howard said. "Once I started facing them the second and third time, we changed it up just to keep them guessing at the plate. The sixth, seventh and eighth innings, we went back to what we were doing the beginning of the game just to keep them off-balance the whole game. Dom did a really good job."

The Georgia Southern product punched out multiple batters in four innings and finished his night by fanning Ronnie Jebavy with his 101st pitch, a season high.

"Early in the game, if I get a guy to two strikes -- definitely to lefties -- I'm going to go to my slider," said Howard, who fired 69 strikes. "That's my strikeout pitch. They know that, and so after the fifth, going into the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth when I get two strikes, I go back to my fastball just trying to keep them off-balance and not guess what I'm going to."

The win dropped Howard's ERA to 2.65 in his first tour of the California League, the second-best mark among Modesto starters after Parker French's 2.45 and fifth-best in the league. He leads the circuit with 66 strikeouts.

"Every day when I take the mound, it's not to go out there and be perfect," he said. "I just remind myself to give my team a chance to win and go deep in the game for them. I know if I go deep in the game, we've got a pretty good shot at winning."

Yoely Bello finished off the Nuts' fourth shutout with a pair of strikeouts and a walk in a hitless ninth.

Nunez helped at the plate in addition to his work behind it. The backstop's RBI single sparked a four-run sixth. Max White tied a season high with three hits, scoring twice and driving in a run.