Series #14 vs Lake County

The Lugnuts had a good week against the Lake County Captains (Cleveland Guardians affiliate). We went 3-3 bringing our season record to 37-43. We played Tuesday to Sunday, a typical six game series, but right after our series with Great Lakes making it twelve straight games. I got to pitch twice this week and for the third straight year, got to pitch on July 4th.

July 4th, 2022 was a surreal day of baseball and one that had everyone who was involved hyped for the 4th this year. I wrote about the day last year and you can read about it here.

July 4th, 2023 was a normal day until 6:35 PM - right around thirty minutes before first pitch. My pitching coach came up to me and said, "grab your stuff and get outside now." My mind was in a blender...was I in trouble? Did our starter get hurt? What was going on? Luckily, I was dressed and ready to go so I grabbed my glove, my water, and my weighted balls and walked out, earlier than usual - typically I walk out of the clubhouse to the bullpen around 6:45 to see our starter warm up. When I got through the tunnel, the sky was dark and it smelled like rain which was weird because during batting practice two hours earlier there was not a cloud in the sky.

Our scheduled starter had not started playing catch yet and our pitching coach was staring at the weather radar on his phone. He looked up at me, "Nambiar, you are starting." The logic there was that if the rain had started in the first couple innings, we'd potentially burn our starting pitcher who is supposed to pitch the bulk of the game but if it started raining while a reliever was pitching, you wouldn't lose as many innings. So at 6:40, I started stretching and going through part of my routine from when I used to start. I played catch in the outfield, sat for a few minutes, threw my warmup pitches, sat for a few more minutes, then jogged out to the game mound in front of nearly 12,000 fans - the most fans the Lugnuts have had in more than a decade.

Going through part of my starting routine was not smart because by the time I stepped on the game mound after the anthem, I was fatigued. When it's the middle of the game and I hear, "Get Nambiar going" on the walkie talkie, adrenaline rushes through my veins and I have about five minutes to get ready before I go into the game. Starting is a different type of feeling, one that I hadn't felt since August 13, 2021.

After the first batter flew out to left field for the first out of the game I could feel the energy of the crowd, the hair on my arm standing up and my heart rate significantly elevated. I got through a scoreless first after a walk and a strikeout and walked off the mound surveying the crowd, reminding myself to appreciate the moment….who knows if I’ll ever perform in front of a larger crowd!

The second inning was rocky. A double and a perfect bunt in the first three pitches to put runners on first and third with nobody out made it stressful but I went to work. I induced two weak flyouts and a ground out to escape the trouble and strand both runners on base. I was met in the dugout by my pitching coach’s hand and “good job, that’s it.” High fives from my teammates sealed the day, allowing my mind to check out. My first start, maybe my last, since August of 2021 had been a scoreless one and one in front of a record setting crowd. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to start again and even more fired up that I punched in a good one. Another great July 4th in the books and thankfully the rain didn't hit us at all. Here is a video of the crowd after the game and before the fireworks.

My next outing on Friday wasn’t as fun or successful. Two innings, four runs. With twelve straight games, I was available again on Sunday but wasn’t used and pitching on Sunday would have made three outings in six days, which is a lot of usage. Our bullpen was short staffed but we made it through the week splitting the series at three games a piece.

The Lugnuts will be traveling to Grand Rapids to play the West Michigan WhiteCaps (Detroit Tigers affiliate) this week. Thanks for reading!