Tanner Scott on his strong outing last night

Orioles lefty reliever Tanner Scott has now made six big league appearances since his first call to the majors last September. It is safe to say the best of those was last night.

Pitching the seventh and eighth against Kansas City, he put up two zeroes and fanned a career-high four batters. He threw 31 pitches, 24 for strikes and got eight swings and misses.

His fastball averaged 98 mph, getting swings and misses on four of 20 pitches. His slider, which averaged 90 mph, garnered four swings and misses on 11 pitches.

"I just felt comfortable out there," Scott said this afternoon. "In the bullpen I was talking to Millsy (coach Alan Mills). Went out there in the game and it was just attack with each pitch every time. I felt good and confident."

Scott's fastball touched 99 mph last night and he was using his slider effectively against both left and right-handed batters. Now in his third stint with the club this year, he hopes to build on that outing his next time out.

"Just try to go out there and do the same thing," he said. "Attack each hitter with one pitch at a time and hang up a zero."

Scott is slowly but surely getting used to pitching in the majors, even though he's thrown just 8 1/3 MLB innings.

"The first couple of times you pitch in the big leagues, it's kind of nerve-wracking. Once you get settled in you become calmer and it's like pitching like you were. You just get more confident and I don't know, it feels good. Just confident out there."

In each of his four appearances this year his velocity has ticked up. His fastball averaged 95 his first outing and then went to 96, 97 and last night 98 mph.

Scott has said many times the development of his slider since the 2017 season has been the biggest step forward in his pitching. He's now throwing more strikes and locating his slider very well. He has used his fastball 60 percent of the time and his slider 40 percent in his four big league games this season.

"It is definitely a huge thing especially since last year they had me starting and going three innings to help develop my slider. Now I throw it whenever I want with confidence. It's been a big help to my success. I'm confident whether it's a righty or lefty I'll throw it and attack," he said.