Ross Stripling, who was promoted to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts earlier this week, made his Southern League debut on Saturday afternoon earning the win, as the Lookouts topped the Mobile BayBears 4-1 at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile, AL.

Ross Stripling remains unbeaten this season picking up his first win with the Lookouts to go along with his two wins with the Quakes.
(Photo credit – Tim Evearitt)

Although Stripling’s promotion was facilitated when Lookouts left-hander Onelki Garcia was placed on the DL this past week, his promotion was inevitable, as the hard-throwing right-hander was dominating with the Class A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes posting a 2-0 record and a 2.94 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in the hitter-friendly California League. He struck out 34 in 33 innings and walked 11 in his six starts with the Quakes.

In his debut with the Lookouts, the 23-year-old Southlake, TX native pitched six innings allowing five hits, all singles, and one earned run. He struck out 8 compared to 1 walk while throwing 82 pitches, 55 of them strikes. His ground ball to fly ball ratio was 4/4. Stripling’s first challenge at the Double-A level came in the fourth inning when he had two runners on with one out. Both runners reached base on hits that might have been ruled as errors, one to Lookouts center fielder Joc Pederson and the other to third baseman C.J. Retherford. He escaped unharmed ending the inning with a strike out and a ground out. His fastball hit 94 and his curve was described as 12 to 6 with late movement.

Stripling was assisted offensively with solo home runs by left fielder Brian Cavazos-Galvez and catcher Gorman “Griff” Erickson. He also received support from Pederson and Yasiel Puig, who continue their torrid hitting with Pederson going 3 for 4 with a stolen base and a run scored and Puig collecting two hits with a run scored and a RBI. During the game Pederson momentarily tied Dan Black of the Birmingham Barons for the highest batting average in the Southern League at .342. With a hit in his last at bat Pederson saw his average rise to .346 while Black finished the evening at .341. Joc also had an outfield assist throwing a runner out at home.

Yimi Garcia continued his stellar work as a closer recording his ninth save with a spotless ninth inning.

In other minor league news, it seems that the Dodgers injury bug has bitten the Great Lakes Loons as Corey Seager was placed on the DL with a hamstring injury. The Loons have also matched the Dodgers game for game with an eight game losing streak. The Loons likewise have had some relief pitching issues and difficulty with RISP.