Series #18 @ Cedar Rapids

The second week of our two week roadtrip did not go very well against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins affiliate). We lost the first five games before salvaging the week with a win on Sunday bringing our season record to 45-56. After a brutal week of heat in Davenport, the weather in Cedar Rapids was perfect and our hotel air conditioning worked just fine. I got to pitch twice this week on Tuesday and Friday.

On Tuesday, fresh off the off day, I was in the game very soon after first pitch. Our starter ran into trouble in the second inning - the Kernel’s lineup is really good top to bottom and put together tough at bats all week - and I had to get hot in a hurry. I got the last out of the second inning and went back out for the third. I gave up a couple runs after a couple hits, a walk, a strikeout, and an error. The inning ended on a wacky play. With a runner on third and one out, a ground ball to second led to a rundown between third base and the plate and then another rundown between first and second. It went in the books as a 4-2-5-6-3 double play.

I pitched again on Friday, entering the game after our starter by finishing up the 5th inning. I went back out for the 6th and had a nice quick inning: fly out, ground out, single, pop up. I almost ran passed first base while covering the bag on the ground out but made a nice recovery to record the out. I finished my second inning with a low pitch count so I went back out for my third inning in the 7th. In the first three pitches I had given up a single and gotten a double play. A bloop double and the single that followed was bad luck - the double short hopped our right fielder and was almost caught and the single came with two strikes right after I thought I had struck the hitter out. I thought I had been squeezed on a few calls throughout the night. A walk and an infield single chased me from the game with the bases loaded. A fellow Velo Boy cleaned up the mess and got out of the inning. Here is the close pitch before the RBI single. Is it a strike?

I had some friends in town this week - the only two people outside of my parents that have seen me pitch in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Thanks to Mickey and Greg for making the trip!

We had an 8 hour bus ride back to Lansing Sunday night and we got in around 2:30 AM. It feels like I haven’t been in Lansing in weeks between our two week road trip and a break prior but it is always nice to be at home. We now have a two week home stand against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres affiliate) and the Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate).

Thanks for reading! Go Nuts