Brandon Hynick thinks pitching at altitude is a little over-rated. He proved it Tuesday night, as the Rockies farmhand, pitching for Triple-A Colorado Springs, retired all 21 batters he faced in throwing a seven-inning perfect game, beating Portland 2-0. The Rockies’ No. 22 prospect entering the season, Hynick threw the ninth perfect game in the Pacific Coast League’s 107-year history.

"If (pitching at altitude) is in your mind, you’re in trouble," Hynick said Wednesday morning. "You’ve got to treat it as a normal game, follow your game plan and execute it . . . For me, that means locating my fastball, keeping it down and then elevating it as a chase pitch, and throwing my offspeed down in the zone or missing out of the zone down."

Hynick (7-5, 3.50) executed to perfection against the Beavers. He struck out six batters in becoming the first PCL pitcher since Manny Parra (Brewers) threw a nine-inning perfect game for Nashville against Round Rock on June 25, 2007.

Second baseman Eric Young Jr., a 2009 Futures Game honoree, helped save the perfect game with a diving stop of a grounder in the seventh inning. Hynick, who was eighth-round pick in 2006 out of Birmingham-Southern, then got Craig Stansberry to fly out to end the game. He said he relied on his fastball command and an improved curveball, which had been inconsistent most of the season, while also mixing in changeups and split-finger fastballs to get weak contact or swings and misses.

Soon after the victory, Hynick said, his cell phone went "crazy" with voice mails and text messages. One was from his father, who was scheduled to be in town for the homestand but reconsidered when the arrival of veteran Adam Eaton pushed Hynick back in the rotation.

Hynick, 24, pointed to the help of veterans such as Eaton, catchers Sal Fasano and Edwin Bellorin with helping mentor younger players such as himself on the SkySox. "We have a lot of veterans who are willing to share their experience and information," he said. "The level of professionalism on our roster is really high, it’s been tremendous."

Colorado Springs and Portland had to complete a suspended game first on Tuesday, hence the seven-inning nightcap. Time of the game was just 1 hour, 36 minutes. The last individual seven-inning perfect game in the PCL was in 1954 by Roger Bowman of Hollywood against Portland.