Top pick Kaminsky fans nine in Peoria win

Left-hander Rob Kaminsky, the Cardinals' first-round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, is off to an encouraging start in his first full professional season.

Kaminsky, the Cardinals' No. 3 prospect, struck out nine batters and gave up only two unearned runs on two hits and a walk over six innings as Class A Peoria rallied in the ninth inning to beat Burlington, 4-3, on Thursday.

Selected 28th overall in last year's Draft, Kaminsky went 0-3 with a 3.68 ERA over 22 innings in the Gulf Coast League last season. So far for Peoria, he's 0-1 with a 1.83 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings.

The 19-year-old lefty breezed through six scoreless innings for the Chiefs on Thursday before running into trouble when he came back out for the seventh. Kaminsky struck out the leadoff batter, but he reached base safely anyway on a wild pitch.

He then served up a single to the next batter and left the game, and both baserunners came around to score on a fielding error by the shortstop.

But neither was charged as an earned run to Kaminsky, who has allowed two runs in each of his four starts this season, four of them earned.

The 5-foot-11, 191-pound Kaminsky earned a $1,785,300 bonus last year, and scouts have said he has the potential to be a front-line starter.