Hillcats held to one hit

By Andy Bitter

Published: May 6, 2008

You would think 21-year-old Aaron Poreda would shy away from the attention and pressure that burdens him as the White Sox’ first-round pick in last year’s draft and their top organizational prospect.

Think again.

“It kind of fuels my fire,” he said after throwing a one-hit masterpiece in Winston-Salem’s 8-1 win against Lynchburg at City Stadium. “The more pressure I have on me, the more dialed in I am.”

A day after the Hillcats (13-18) set a season-high with 18 hits, they got shut down by Poreda, who the White Sox took with the 25th overall pick in last year’s draft out of the University of San Francisco.

The 6-foot-6 left-hander didn’t allow a hit until the sixth and finished with a season-high seven strikeouts, lowering his season ERA to 2.72 and improving his record to 2-2.

“I thought I could have a good outing against these guys because they’re very aggressive,” said Poreda, who gave up one earned run in five innings against Lynchburg in the first week of the season. “I felt like I could fill up the zone with the fastball.”

He did, making the Hillcats look helpless with barrage of fastballs in the mid-90s.

Poreda was nearly perfect through five Tuesday, facing one batter over the minimum. Right fielder Salvador Sanchez helped him out, making a sliding catch on a sinking liner off Kent Sakamoto’s bat in the second.

He cruised through the fifth, striking out Steve Lerud before breaking Sakamoto and Jared Keel’s bats in consecutive at bats.

But Albert Laboy ended any thoughts of a no-hitter to start the sixth, jumping all over a 2-0 fastball for a mammoth home run off the scoreboard in left.

“That’s one way to give it up,” said Poreda, who had an 8-0 lead at the time. “You tip your cap. He put a good lick on the ball.”

Laboy is one of few Hillcats who have had any kind of success against Poreda this year. He had two of Lynchburg’s five hits against the left-hander in their first go around, both opposite field shots.

“He’s a hard thrower and he’s sneaky,” Laboy said. “He’s a slow mover. It doesn’t look like he’s going to throw that hard.”

But he does. That he had both a slider and changeup working Tuesday night merely made things more difficult for the Hillcats.

Poreda brushed off the Laboy home run to throw two more shutout innings, finishing things by blowing a fastball past Keel for his seventh and final strikeout.

Winston-Salem (13-15) gave Poreda all the runs he needed in the fifth, finally getting to Hillcats starter Jared Hughes (1-4), who battled control problems all night. The Warthogs put together four hits in the inning, the last a two-run double by John Shelby that made it 5-0.

Hughes lasted four innings, his shortest outing of the season, giving up five hits with three walks and one hit batsmen. He went to a three-ball count on seven of the 21 batters he faced.

It mattered little. Poreda was that overpowering, proving why Baseball America tabbed him as the White Sox’ top minor league prospect.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure,” he said. “They have a lot of expectations for me. I just try to meet those expectations and surpass them.”

NOTES: Winston-Salem snapped a seven-game road losing streak. The Warthogs are 2-9 away from home this season. … Struggling Hillcats reliever Charles Benoit gave up three runs in three innings, but he’s not entirely to blame. In a three-run sixth, Lynchburg outfielders lost two balls hit to short left-center in the lights. One bounced off center fielder Alex Presley’s glove and was ruled an error. Another dropped between three Lynchburg fielders for a single. … Laboy’s homer was his first of the year.