Alex Speas, the 2016 2nd round pick who underwent Tommy John surgery in June, 2018, made his return to game action tonight. The 21 righthanded pitcher threw 7 pitches, all strikes, in retiring the side in an inning of work, fanning 2. Speas moved full time to the bullpen in 2018 and was having success in low-A Hickory, putting up a 2.20 ERA in 28.2 IP over 20 outings, before going down with the torn UCL.
Speaking of Hickory. Yerry Rodriguez went 6.2 IP for the Crawdads tonight, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 7.