Lamb and Blue Rocks solid to start second half of season!

salem red sox

A solid start to the second half of the Advanced Class A level season for the Wilmington Blue Rocks, Kansas City Royals affiliation, came off the arm of John Lamb. You can’t do much better than the 2-0 win over the Salem Red Sox in front of the home crowd on Zack Greinke bobble-head night.

John Lamb pitched his longest outing of the season by going six and two-thirds and starting the combined shut-out effort with the Blue Rocks bull-pen. Lamb matched a season high mark of 9 strike-outs during tonight‘s contest, with 2 walks and 4 hits. He did receive some solid help with a defensive effort on an 8-4-2 play at the plate which saw Salvador Perez hold onto the ball following a collision at the plate early in the game. Just enough hitting during this Carolina League pitching duel gave the Blue Rocks the win, which included a big-fly from Eric Hosmer.



Got some encouraging news from the stands, via text messages, that Lamb was 90-94 on the radar guns and commanding all 3 pitches in his pocket during his 15th start of his first full season assignment in professional baseball. The news came from one of the Royals best retired pitchers, Bret Saberhagen, so I am comfortable sharing the back-stop updates on the velocity of my son’s pitches.



The household took a big sigh of relief as Lamb begins the uncharted territory of his minor league career. This is his first full-season since signing with the Kansas City Royals following the 2008 draft selection and we couldn’t be more proud of his 19 year-old efforts.



So now we get to sit back and relax for the next four days until his next start on the hill.



GO BLUE ROCKS!


- - - James Lamb


Baseball Prospect Guide

Lamb good in Salem, but not not enough for the win...

salem red sox

With John Lamb getting the ball tonight on the bump against the Salem Red Sox in Salem, VA he has matched last year’s effort of 14 starts. Although still a pup by most professional baseball standards, Lamb continues to perform at all levels in the minor leagues.





Wilmington Blue Rocks versus Salem Red Sox was seen by more than 3,763 fans with two of the league’s best pitchers. Lamb and Huntzinger both did their jobs entertaining the crowd and giving their respective team an opportunity to win.

The Rocks have struggled all year to beat the Sox and tonight was no different. Lamb pitched well to hold the Sox to only 2 runs, 1 earned, 6 hits, 6 strike-outs and 1 walk during his six innings of work. Lamb handed the ball to Mozingo with a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the 7th. Mozingo took the loss later in the game when the Sox took back the lead in the 8th inning.




Huntzinger pitched exceptionally well for his seven inning performance. Without taking anything away from his strike throwing ability, it must be mentioned that the Blue Rocks continued aggressive approach at the plate allowed Huntzinger to use only 56 pitches to get his 21 outs. Not sure why he did not continue to throw in the 8th inning with such a low pitch count, but surely a surprise when the Sox went to their bull-pen.




Adam Frost who was just recently called up from Burlington, IA tied the game with a solo home-run in the top of the 8th inning for the Blue Rocks. However, the lead was short lived due to the Sox taking back the lead in the bottom of the same inning. The Rocks lost the game and were swept in the series to put an end to the eight day road-trip.




The Blue Rocks return home tomorrow for a short series and the All-Star break before another short series with the same Salem Red Sox in Wilmington, DE to start off the second half of the professional baseball season in advanced a level.




LETS GO ROCKS!

 
 
- - - James Lamb

 
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