Hillcats’ Wilson keeps it simple, records longest outing of the season

For all of the complicated banter that goes on in baseball clubhouses regarding strike zones, arm slots and delivery points, the game can be mind numbingly simple at times.

“I threw more strikes,” Justin Wilson said Sunday night after the Hillcats’ 10-3 victory over Salem at City Stadium.

See? Simple.

During a rough start to the season, Wilson had a tendency to overthink on the mound, Hillcats pitching coach Wally Whitehurst said. And that got him in trouble.

“You’ve got to be stupid to play this game,” Whitehurst said, tongue-in-cheek. He wasn’t disparaging Wilson’s intelligence. Far from it. He was trying to hammer home a point. Wilson has simplified the mental part of his game, and it’s paid off in recent starts.

“When you start putting negative thoughts in your head, usually, bad things will happen,” Whitehurst said. “It’s the idea of thinking every time, it’s one out. I’m getting a guy, I’m moving on, and all I’m going to do is pitch.”

Wilson, the Pirates’ fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft, had his longest outing of the season Sunday, allowing three hits and one earned run in six strong innings. He struck out three and walked three and lowered his ERA to 5.91, moving below the 6.00 mark for the first time since May 13. Wilson improved to 4-6, winning for the first time since May 29.

“It wasn’t really frustration,” Wilson said. “It was more just settling in, which took longer than I expected. … I was working on different things. I was more mental than physical. The last few starts, I’ve just gotten it into my head to get more ground balls, more fly balls, just getting outs.”

Wilson’s teammates came through in clutch situations, giving him run support for the first time in three starts. The Cats had scored a combined three runs in Wilson’s last two starts, but he left Sunday night with an 8-1 lead. Newcomer Erik Huber, promoted Saturday from Low-A West Virginia, broke the game open with a bases-loaded double in the fifth, belting a middle-away fastball to right center that cleared the bases and gave Lynchburg a 6-1 lead.

Huber drove in another run with a sac fly in the eighth and has five RBIs in his first two games.

The 6-foot-6 Huber came to Lynchburg with some hitting chops. He raised his batting average from .259 last year in Hickory to .314 this season in Charleston, a jump he credits to his work with West Virginia manager Gary Green, a former Hillcats manager.

“Down in West Virginia, I changed some things with my stance and kind of widened my base a little bit,” Huber said. “Obviously, it’s worked out. It’s kept me solid. I’ve kept my front hip in. Those are a few of the things we’ve done to keep the high average.”

The Hillcats led 2-1 heading into the fifth and pushed the lead to 3-1 when Jared Keel worked a bases-loaded walk with two outs, setting up Huber’s big hit.

Lynchburg’s Kent Sakamoto had an oddly successful night at the plate. Though he only recorded one hit, he reached base all five times he came up. He was twice hit by pitches, walked once, reached once on an error and drove in a run with a single in the sixth inning. Sakamoto scored a game-high three runs.