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Yovani Gallardo improved to 7-1 as the Sounds beat Albuquerque on Sunday. As David noted, the fact that Yovani made the start means that he won’t be called up to pitch for Ben Sheets.
It was a solid but not great outing for 21-year-old right-hander, who went 5 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, walked 3 and struck out 8. In 10 starts for AAA Nashville this year, ¡Gallardo! has posted 7 Quality Starts, allowing 61 baserunners in 60.1 IP, while striking out a minor league-leading 84 strikeouts. (Gio Gonzalez of Birmingham in the White Sox organization is second with 74.) His 4.0 K/BB is impressive for a player who’s pretty young for his league/level, and he’s given up just one measley HR in the 60+ IP. If he can hone his control a bit to trim his walk rate, he won’t be long for the minors. If nothing else, we’ll see him in September.
As for Tuesday’s game, it’ll be Sheets or Carlos Villanueva, unless Dave Bush wants to run on 3-days rest, which at this point seems very far from being likely.