Howard among top prospect performers Wednesday

Erick Fedde cruised his way through six dominant innings in Double-A Harrisburg’s 5-4 win over Bowie on Wednesday.

The Nationals’ No. 4 prospect (No. 82 overall) set a career high with 12 strikeouts and gave up just one run on four hits.

When he wasn’t racking up the strikeouts, the 23-year-old was able to keep the ball low in the zone, throwing 62 of his 99 pitches for strikes and recording five of the remaining six outs via ground balls.

“My slider was just the best it’s been in my career,” Fedde told MiLB.com. “I got a ton of swing-and-misses on it. I threw some good changeups and fastballs to keep guys off balance.

“I think, in some of my other starts, I wasn’t keeping guys off balance. I think there was one start where I threw a ton of fastballs in a row and guys at this level are too good to do that to. I’ve been trying to be a little too perfect and getting in bad counts. Today, I was a lot better at just attacking hitters and keeping myself in good situations.”

Double-A ball is still relatively new for Fedde, who was promoted on Aug. 7 and made his debut three days later, but the right-hander appears to be adjusting well.

Fedde has gone six or more innings while allowing one earned run or none in three of his five starts.

The rest of the best performances from top prospects Wednesday:

• Lewis Brinson (Brewers’ No. 2, No. 16 overall) bookended the month of August with a pair of four-hit games for Triple-A Colorado Springs. Brinson, whom the Brewers acquired on Aug. 1, went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, concluding a month in which he hit .425 in 19 games.

• Jorge Alfaro (Phillies’ No. 4, No. 63 overall) put together his third four-hit game of the year and homered for the second time in as many days for Double-A …

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