Alan Johnson throws fast, works fast and runs, well, maybe a step south of fast.

A few more outings like he had on Tuesday and his time in Colorado Springs may be pretty quick, too.

On the day he was called up to the Sky Sox, Johnson breezed through the Reno lineup to the tune of two baserunners in six shutout innings. He also drove in three runs on a base-clearing double as part of a 2-for-3 performance from the plate as Colorado Springs topped Reno 7-2 in front of 3,118 at Security Service Field.

“This is how you’d expect every start to go,” said Johnson, who reached 93 mph with his fastball.

The only shortcoming in Johnson’s night was his inability to turn his drive to the right-field wall into that rarest of baseball rarities – a pitcher’s triple.

“I was ready to go,” said Johnson, who hasn’t batted regularly since high school. “I thought I had it, but (manager and third-base coach Tom Runnells) held me up.”

Runnells offered just a one-word response: “Please.”

Johnson was officially on High-A Tri-City’s roster when the day began, but he had been in Colorado Springs since spring training camp broke. So while his call-up was hardly a surprise, there was still that unknown factor.

“This was the first time I’ve seen him pitch,” Runnells said. “I was pretty impressed with what he did. He threw the ball very, very well,”

The outing was a departure from Johnson’s struggles from a year ago, when he went 4-14 with a 5.23 ERA for Double-A Tulsa.

“I really didn’t know where I was going to be this season after the year I had last year,” Johnson said. “So this was nice.”

The right-hander didn’t walk a batter and gave up just two hits, including a double by Josh Whitesell.

“He threw strikes and worked so fast that his defense was really on its toes behind him,” Whitesell said. “That led to some quick innings. We just didn’t do a good enough job offensively against him.”

Johnson’s battery mate, Edwin Bellorin, had the night’s other big hit for the Sky Sox, a two-run double that made the score 7-0.

Note: Franklin Morales, still a member of the Rockies starting rotation for all intents and purposes, is scheduled to start for the Sky Sox today. Tony Barnette, a top prospect, will oppose him.

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