The past week has been a great reminder of how exciting minor league baseball can be as we enter the dog days of summer. Brady Singer got promoted to NWA and made his first start while Josh Dye also got a promo, joining the unstoppable Blue Rocks. Daniel Lynch’s start on Saturday was cut short after just 1.1 IP and Jackson Kowar made a case for the value of pitcher wins/losses.

Tuesday 5/28/19: 

Lexington At West Virginia

Jonathan Bowlan – 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Kyle Hinton – 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Game 2

Austin Cox – 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Josh Dye – 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Austin Cox made the start in game 2 and continued his recent hot streak. He worked a no-hit bid into the 7th before giving up a single just two outs short. Cox logged his 4th straight quality start dating back to May 12. In that stretch he’s put up a 1.07 ERA, 28 K, 4 BB in 25.1 innings.

Wednesday 5/29/19: 

Wilmington At Fayetteville

Jackson Kowar – 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

In the first inning Kowar gave up a double, followed by a strikeout and 2 run homer, putting the Rocks in a two run deficit with 26 outs to go. It seemed sure to be a short night for Jackson and a long night for Wilmington, but the flamethrower proceeded to cruise through the next four innings without breaking a sweat. Kowar allowed a solo jack in the 6th and worked through the 7th inning clean. In the top of the 8th the Rocks put up 4 runs and took the lead. The bullpen closed it out and Kowar picked up his 4th win of the season.

Pitcher win/loss have very little merit as a statistic, but in games like this they feel just. Kowar could have folded like a card table early in this game but he battled and the offense picked him up.

Saturday 6/1/19: 

Northwest Arkansas At Springfield

Brady Singer – 5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

Singer’s NWA debut was a success. He picked up the win despite not having his best stuff. He allowed 3 walks in the appearance, a far cry from the 2.0 BB/9 he posted through 57.2 innings with Wilmington. 

Lexington At Charleston

Jon Heasley – 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Daniel James – 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Jon Heasley picked up his 5th win of the season for Lexington in the second game of a double-header. After giving up 3 runs in the first two innings, Heasley settled in and navigated 4 scoreless. With 8 more strikeouts, Heasley’s now piled up 53 K in 46.2 innings.

Wilmington At Myrtle Beach

Daniel Lynch – 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Josh Dye – 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Daniel Lynch made his 11th start of the season but departed after just 1.1 IP. Early information is that Lynch showed some signs of discomfort in his throwing arm/hand. At the time of writing this no further information has been made available. @RoaylsFarm will have immediate updates as information comes out.

Dye’s promotion to Wilmington wasn’t all that surprising if you’ve been following along. In Lexington he was averaging 14.5 K/9 through 26.2 IP.

Sunday 6/2/19: 

Wilmington At Myrtle Beach

Kris Bubic – 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB,  0 K

In his second start with the Blue Rocks, Kris Bubic looked as human as we’ve ever seen. Bubic clearly did not have his best stuff. The nine hits allowed are a season high after holding opponents to 5 or fewer all year.

Myrtle Beach is not a good team but they do have fairly balanced offense (for the Carolina League) with several guys who can hurt you. Heading into Sunday, MB had gone 5-11 in their last 16, getting shutout in 4 of those losses. The point is timing likely played a role in Bubic’s day. 

Bubic throws strikes, he always has, sometimes those balls in the zone turn into bunches of hits. So, Myrtle Beach was likely just due for a strong offensive day. Unfortunately they were facing a Wilmington Blue Rocks team that couldn’t be stopped by a Sherman Tank. Wilmington needed 10 innings but they posted 7 runs, picked up the win and improved to 35-21 on the season.

If anything, this makes Bubic’s next start all the more exciting. Something tells me we’re going to see him bounce back later this week.

Check back next Monday for updated stats, news and more.

 

Photo Credits: Doc Riddle (@TheGrandOldGame)