Brandon Workman has thrived this season by keeping runners from getting on base better than any other pitcher in the Carolina League, and on Sunday, he did it better than he had all year.

The Class A Advanced Salem right-hander tossed seven two-hit innings in the Red Sox's 7-0 blanking of the Winston-Salem Dash. Workman (5-3) struck out three and walked one in his longest start of the season.

The effort also lowered his WHIP to 0.97, a league-best mark, one point ahead of Cody Buckel.

"I like to think [limiting baserunners] is one of my strong suits," said the University of Texas product. "I really don't like walking people, giving up that free base. It's a lot easier to keep runs from coming in if you're not walking people."

The 2010 second-rounder has issued just 14 of those free passes in 64 2/3 innings of work for the Red Sox this season, giving him a walk-per-nine innings ratio of 1.95. He's also struck out 58 and compiled a 2.78 ERA, good for fifth in the league.

Workman, a starter whose bread-and-better is generally good command, credited his strong outing Sunday with even sharper than usual control of secondary offerings he's better harnessed as the season has progressed.

"My command the last few outings has been good with all my pitches," he said. "I worked a lot on being consistent with my curveball and throwing that for strikes. I'm continuing to work on my changeup and that's starting to become a pitch that I can use effectively."

In addition to limiting walks and proving difficult to hit, the 23-year-old also has shown he can miss bats. Last season, he struck out 115 in 131 innings with Class A Greenville. He went 6-7 with a 3.71 ERA for the Drive and walked just 33 in 26 starts.

That gave him a 7.90 strikeout-per-nine innings mark last season and he's improved on that a little this year, posting an 8.07 line in Salem.

Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways from Sunday's start for Workman was that he pitched as deep into the game as he did. He'd managed to go six innings in three of his previous four starts before topping that with seven frames against Winston-Salem.

"[Longevity] is something I worked on this offseason, just to be able to bring a little more consistency to the table than I did last year," he said. "I've been able to do that the last few outings, pitch deep into games and get results.

"I definitely like to think I can [pitch this long] again. If I keep my pitch count down and be effective, then I don't see why not."

On Sunday, No. 3 Red Sox prospect Xander Bogaerts and Travis Shaw led the offense for Salem, with each homering and driving in two runs. Heiker Meneses added two more RBIs.