September 10, 2019 at 7:00 AM
Cup of Coffee: Song, Murphy dominant as Lowell ties the series
9/9 Cup of Coffee: A day after falling on the wrong side of a pitcher's duel, the Spinners pitching staff came up big to keep Lowell alive in the New York-Penn League Championship. Noah Song was on the bump for Lowell and capped off what has been an excellent debut season, but it was Chris Murphy (pictured) who went above and beyond to help secure the victory. The Lowell bats were relatively quiet once again, but a productive day from Stephen Scott and some timely hitting from regular season hero Gilberto Jimenez was enough to get the Spinners over the line.
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In a season that saw the Spinners pitching staff finish sixth in team ERA, it comes as no surprise that the pitching staff has been the driving force in the Spinners playoff run. The Lowell staff pitched to a 2.83 ERA in their four postseason games leading up to Monday night; a number that improved with Noah Song on the mound. Song got off to a strong start by fanning the side in the top of the first, and the Spinners offense broke the game open in the subsequent inning. Stephen Scott came to the plate and drove in Nick Decker to get the first Lowell run across the plate, and soon the bases were loaded. Gilberto Jimenez then singled up the middle to score both Scott and Antoni Flores and give the Spinners a lead they would not surrender.
The situation soon looked dicey for Song in the top of the second, as the right-hander allowed two runners to reach base and subsequently allowed a run on a soft ground ball. However, the Navy product showed his mettle by escaping the inning and turning around and delivering a scoreless third. With momentum slipping for Lowell, any hope of a Brooklyn comeback was soon snuffed out by the entrance of Chris Murphy to the ball game. The 2019 draftee did what he has done all season and dominated the opposition; limiting Brooklyn to just two singles and a walk. Murphy bridged the gap nicely for Lowell, as he fired four shutout innings and struck out six Cyclone batters (matching his season high) to earn the win.
Murphy was in turn followed by the similarly dominant Osvaldo De La Rosa, who tossed a perfect eighth to maintain the Spinner lead. On the precipice of a winner take all game three, Kris Jackson came in to close out the game and duly delivered. The Idaho native allowed a leadoff single, but the cannon arm of Wil Dalton caught the runner advancing to second and kept the bases empty. Jackson then buckled down and struck out the next two batters to earn the save and send the Spinners to a championship-deciding game three. The deciding game of the 2019 New York-Penn League season will be played Tuesday night in Brooklyn at 6:30 PM.
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Player of the Day: In what has been a dream start to his professional career, Chris Murphy put the cherry on top with his lights out performance Monday night. The left-hander dominated as a starter during the regular season and was equally impressive out of the 'pen; finishing with a cumulative 1.34 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and a 10.3 K/9 across 40 1/3 combined innings. On the back of his breakout campaign, Murphy will look to put himself on the map with a big step up in 2020.
Photo Credit: Chris Murphy by Kelly O'Connor