Left hander Ryan Lawlor spent parts of three season on and off the disabled list in the Atlanta organization before being cut loose sometime after 2017. He signed with a Frontier League team out of Normal, and somewhere along the way the Cubs saw him. He signed with the Cubs on July 3, debuted with South Bend on July 5, made his first start as a Cub on July 11, and yesterday he made history.
Ryan Lawlor yesterday became the third pitcher in South Bend history to strike out eleven batters in a game. And he did it in just FIVE innings. Watching the tape, it is easy to see why. Lawlor was attacking the bottom corner on both sides of the plate early, and as his day wore on he started to mix in elevated fastballs and pitches just off the sides to keep getting outs.
I’m not sure how much of his success yesterday was his ability to locate his stuff versus the quality of the stuff itself, but I think another start or two should start to clear up that picture a bit. I definitely think this is a guy we should keep a close eye on for the next few weeks.
Triple A: Iowa Cubs Memphis 6, Iowa 4
A bullpen collapse in the eighth turned a three run Cubs lead into a two run deficit.
Short Season A: Eugene Emeralds Eugene 6, Salem-Keizer 5 in eleven innings
As is often the case with the new awful rule, most of the offense came in the extra innings.
Brailyn Marquez: 4.2 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Sean Barry: 1.1 IP, 2 K
Cam Sanders: 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K
Clayton Daniel: 2 for 5, BB
Nelson Velazquez: 1 for 4, HR, BB
Jonathan Sierra: 1 for 5, 2B
Brennon Kaleiwahea: 2 for 3
Jonathan soso: 1 for 1, 2B
Fernando Kelli: 0 for 3, 2 BB, SB
Rookie: AZL Cubs 1 Cubs One 13, Cubs Two 11
The second game of the All-Cubs series goes to the fans, as they got to watch a twenty nine hit scoring extravaganza.
Yunior Perez: 2.1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K
Ryan Webb: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Corey Black: 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 K
Josue Huma: 2 for 5, 2B
Jimmy Herron: 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB
Yonathan Perlaza: 2 for 5, 2B
Yovanny Cuevas: 2 for 4, 2B, BB, SB
Orian Nunez: 2 for 5, SB
Rafael Mejia: 2 for 5, HR
Erick Gonzalez: 1 for 5, 2B
Caleb Knight: 2 for 3, 3B, BB
Rookie: AZL Cubs 2
Cubs Two rallied for five in the ninth, and actually out hit Cubs One by a hit.
Allen Webster: 1 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 2 K
Jonathan Bruzual: 2.1 IP, 3 BB, 1 K
Chris Allen: 1 IP, 1 K
Luis Silva: 1 IP, 1 K
Reivaj Garcia: 1 for 5, 2B, BB
Luis Verdugo: 3 for 6, 2B, 3B
Cole Roederer: 1 for 4, HR, 2 BB, SB
Grant Fennell: 3 for 4
Fidel Mejia: 2 for 5
Levi Jordan: 3 for 4, 2B, BB
Raymond Pena: 2 for 4, BB
Other Notes
Jason Vosler played his first game for Iowa on June 25, and went 0 for 4. He has had exactly two other hitless games since then (July 14, 15) and is hitting .267/.295/.507 for Iowa. He now has five home runs as well.
Both of the runs allowed by Tennessee’s Michael Rucker came on solo homers. His Double A ERA is now 3.50 through 92 innings.
Alex Lange has not allowed an earned run in two of his last three starts. Abusing selective endpoints a bit, if we go back to May 23 he has pitched more games in which he hasn’t allowed an earned run (5) than games in which he has (4). The problem is that he has been a bit feast or famine. On the days he has been scored on, the allowed run totals are 4,1,6, and 3.
Ryan Lawlor had never struck out eleven batters in a game in his professional career (going back to 2015) until last night. Before he dominated for South Bend last night, the career high for this former Brave LHP prospect was nine.
Ok, so considering it was a day game (11 AM start) in Arizona with a game time temp of 99 degrees and no wind to speak of, maybe the fans weren’t the big winners after all. Fortunately, I suppose, there probably weren’t very many fans there. Arizona Rookie League games are sparsely attended.
Cole Roederer hit his second career home run off a pretty good pitcher – rehabbing flame throwing reliever Corey Black.
With every start Brailyn Marquez continues to make himself a pitcher to watch. Unconfirmed reports had him hitting the high 90s for Eugene (unconfirmed because all minor league stadium guns should be considered dead wrong until proven otherwise). He has now struck out 29 batters in 21.2 innings while allowing just five earned runs (2.08 ERA).
The homer for Velazquez, his fourth for Eugene, came in the tenth inning and tied the game.
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