Right-hander River Ryan made his first start for Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday, Sept. 9, after he was in early August. Ryan has been out since June with a hamstring injury.
Ryan was supposed to debut Tuesday night, but rain canceled the game between Toledo and Iowa Cubs in Iowa City. So his start was pushed to Wednesday afternoon.
Ryan pitched two scoreless innings for the Mud Hens, allowing two hits — an infield single in the first inning and a bloop single to right field in the second inning.
His brief outing began in impressive fashion with strikeouts of the first two hitters, the first on a 92-mph slider and the second on a 98-mph fastball. Both strikeouts were swinging.
Ryan, expected to only work a couple innings because of the long layout, threw 23 pitches, 17 for strikes.
