Series #17 @ Quad Cities

The Lunguts played a great series against the Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals affiliate). We split the series 3-3 bringing our season record to 44-51. Quad Cities is located in Davenport, Iowa and is right on the boarder of Iowa and Illinois - my second time ever in Iowa. The week started off poorly when the air conditioning in our hotel rooms wasn’t fully working because the thermostats read 65 degrees but the air coming out of the vents was not cold air. Thankfully, my room wasn’t horrible but a few of my teammates were sweating through the nights. To make matters worse, the weather in Davenport was disgusting. Consistently above 95 degrees with humidity higher than 50% which made staying hydrated difficult and maintaining energy throughout the day nearly impossible.

I got to throw twice this week and I had a wacky week on the mound. I threw for the first time on Thursday and picked up my first ever professional save. I thought I already had one but my pitching coach pointed out that it was my first ever, which is pretty cool. I didn’t really have to work for it and some might say I even snaked the save, but I still finished the job. I came in with two outs in the 9th inning and the tying run at the plate. The pitcher before me reached his pitch count and was pulled from the game. I had to rush in the bullpen to get ready for the leadoff batter and before I knew it, I was running to the game mound. I threw a first pitch fastball for a ball and then shook to the cutter with a 1-0 count. He rolled over and hit an easy ground ball to our first baseman who stepped on the bag. Game over. I didn’t have a great view but apparently the home plate umpire was the only person in the stadium who thought the ball was fair. The batter and their manager immediately started to argue the call but it was too late. We were already in victory formation, high fiving.

I threw again on Saturday but this time I threw an inning, however, once again, I had to get ready in a hurry. The pitcher before me ran into some trouble to start the 7th inning and I came in with the tying run on first base and nobody one out. After falling behind 2-0, I grooved a fastball that got smashed to the deepest part of the park but luckily was caught in front of the wall. Close call but one out. I followed that up with a four pitch walk which is never a good thing. After that, the two hole hitter rolled a 1-1 cutter for a ground ball double play to end the inning, avoid any damage, and maintain our one run lead. In both my outings combined last week I threw 12 pitches, 8 balls, 4 strikes, and managed to get 4 outs without giving up a run. On the surface, I did my job (one save and one hold) but when you look a little deeper, it wasn’t very pretty. I'm planning on throwing more strikes this week.

I haven’t talked about the Velo Boyz in a little while so here is an update. We have a combined record of 18-6 thus far with 7 saves, 3 starts, and 103 combined appearances. The Lugnuts have won 44 games this year and the lefties in the bullpen are responsible for more than a third of them. We're a versatile bunch and have continued to show up week after week. Love those guys.

Davenport was the first leg of our two week road trip. Yesterday we drove to Cedar Rapids where we will be playing against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins affiliate). This morning, me and a few guys from the team drove an hour to Dyersville, Iowa to check out the Field of Dreams site. It’s such an amazing place for baseball fans and I’m glad I made the trip to check it out. I cannot wait to rewatch the movie now having been to the site. We got a tour of the house and walked through the corn. Incredible.

Thanks for reading! Go Nuts