Canal Park - Akron RubberDucks

Harrisburg Senators (WAS) @ Akron RubberDucks (CLE)

June 28, 2025

RubberDucks 4, Senators 2

W: Dylan DeLucia
L: Dustin Saenz

S: Zane Morehouse

Attendance: 7,260
Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Akron, OH
Opened: 1997
Capacity: 7,630
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

The grand finale of my nearly two week trip was in Akron, Ohio.  This last drive between stops was the shortest of the trip, with it being just over 40 miles between Eastlake and Akron.  The Akron RubberDucks are the AA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, which meant I visited all of the three highest level Cleveland affiliates on this trip, all within a few hours of each other in the state of Ohio.  Canal Park was the first and only AA stadium I visited on this trip.  Akron is the westernmost franchise in the Eastern League, most others of which I visited a year ago.  It is not a dramatic geographic outlier in that league though, as Erie and the other Pennsylvania teams aren't too bad of a trek from Akron.

Canal Park opened in 1997 and has aged nicely, I would say.  It is yet another downtown ballpark, but is a bit more secluded from its surroundings than many of the other urban parks I have visited recently.  While some of the downtown skyline is visible from inside the park, the only structure in the immediate perimeter that looms over the park is a children's hospital down the third base line.  There are very few outfield seats in this park, with right field instead containing a tiki bar and adjacent terrace seating.  There is an indoor premium club area above the concourse in right field as well.  On the other side of the stadium is a large picnic area down the third base line.  Akron joins West Michigan as a rare minor league park where the bullpens are not in the field of play, but rather beyond the right field wall.  A vast majority of the regular seats in this ballpark are on the first base side.  That is also where the team store is located.  It is not a large store, however.  I think this is the first time I've had to wait in line to enter such a shop at a minor league park, and this was probably 45 minutes before first pitch.  There was a huge crowd on hand for this Saturday night game with postgame fireworks, about a week prior to Independence Day.  The RubberDucks took on the identity of the Galley Boys with special uniforms for this game, an ode to the burgers served at popular local chain: Swenson's Drive-In.  While I'm sure this promotion was a hit for the locals, it was a bit disappointing for me not to hear them referred to by their pretty cool regular nickname, RubberDucks, inspired by Akron's prominence in the tire industry.

In a rarity for any level besides AAA, the Harrisburg lineup featured a couple of players with extensive MLB experience:  rehabbing infielder Paul DeJong and outfielder Delino DeShields Jr, who signed a minor league deal with the Nationals in May mostly so he could play for his father, Harrisburg manager Delino DeShields Sr, who is a former MLB All-Star outfielder in his own right.  The senior DeShields got hit by a line drive foul ball in the first inning, but seemed to shake it off pretty quickly.  Junior had a rough game too, striking out all three times at bat.  Another Senator who had a tough evening was starting pitcher Tyler Stuart, who was visibly upset and in pain following a pitch he threw to the fifth batter he faced in the bottom of the first.  He was taken out of the game and has not pitched since.  I later read that it was a reoccurring elbow injury that also delayed his start to the season.  This injury happened one batter after Guy Lipscomb had a base hit to knock in the first run of the game.  Akron starting pitcher Dylan DeLucia had an excellent game.  He only allowed one run in six innings, and while it was officially credited as an earned run, it wasn't entirely his fault.  In the top of the third, a Harrisburg base runner moved into scoring position when a balk was called because the catcher tried to call timeout even though DeLucia had already used his two disengagements during the at bat.  Nats first round pick from a year ago, Seaver King, took advantage with a single to tie the game at one.  The RubberDucks immediately retook the lead in the bottom of the third.  Angel Genoa bounced one up the middle for a RBI single to make it 2-1.  From there, neither team did much of anything with the bats for the next few innings.  In the bottom of the seventh, Akron scored a pair of runs on an unfortunate play for the Senators.  Lipscomb hit a routine fly ball to left that should have ended the inning.  But left fielder Phillip Glasser lost the ball in the twilight sky and it landed 10 feet from him, ruled as a two run double.  The way this game was going for Harrisburg offensively, those two gift runs were going to be too much to overcome.  The Senators did score once in the top of the eighth, another somewhat generous run.  DeJong had a RBI sacrifice fly, scoring King who reached on an error, making this an unearned run.  Then during the next plate appearance, the Akron pitcher got called for a balk for a third unsuccessful pickoff attempt.  Not sure I've ever seen a team tagged with two balks for too many disengagements in the same game since that rule was implemented a couple years ago.  This one didn't wind up costing them though.  Without a couple of defensive mistakes, this could have been a shutout for the RubberDucks.  Instead, they would settle for a 4-2 victory.

And with that, this trip's home team losing streak came to an end.  It was also the first victory for a Cleveland affiliate on this journey, following three losses.  Canal Park was a really nice ballpark to conclude the trip with.  I spent one last night in Ohio before making the Sunday drive home.  In total, I saw 10 games in 12 days.  Really the only downer was missing the game in Dayton.  But I made up for that with a return trip to Ohio a few weeks ago.  So I'll be writing about that one soon too.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Day Air Ballpark in Dayton, OH

Classic Park - Lake County Captains

West Michigan Whitecaps (DET) @ Lake County Captains (CLE)

June 27, 2025

Whitecaps 8, Captains 4

W: Preston Howey
L: Matt Wilkinson

HR: Austin Murr (WM), Peyton Graham (WM), Kevin McGonigle (WM), Christian Knapczyk (LC)

Attendance: 3,919
Time of Game: 3 hours, 3 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Eastlake, OH
Opened: 2003
Capacity: 7,273
Level: High A
League: Midwest

I started off the final weekend of my Midwest trip with a Friday night game in Eastlake, Ohio.  Eastlake is an Eastern suburb of Cleveland that is situated along Lake Erie, although Classic Park is a few miles from the lakeshore.  Being less than 20 miles from Progressive Field, this is one of the closest affiliated minor league franchises to the parent club.  Of the ones I've visited the past two years, the only one that is closer is Brooklyn and the Mets, which call the same city home.

Perhaps it is a bit unfortunate in my judgement of Classic Auto Group Park that it was the seventh and final Midwest League venue that I visited on this trip and the six that preceded it are all very nice facilities.  If I were to rank all of them, this one would easily finish last.  That's not to say it is a dump or anything.  It's just a very generic minor league park.  The only outfield seating, at least on this night, was of the lawn variety.  There is a stand-alone bleacher section in left field, but it was covered with what appeared to be a regularly used tarp adorned with advertising.  Perhaps that comes off when large crowds are expected.  There are the typical party areas down both the left and right field lines.  There is ample traditional stadium seating covering most of foul territory.  There are suites and party decks on the level above the concourse.  On a positive note, the main concourse is spacious.  Classic Park is quite lacking on the technology front compared to its contemporaries in the Midwest League.  The video board badly needs to be replaced as it has many blacked out and pixilated squares.  It doesn't provide nearly as much information as most video boards either.  This is the first park I can recall visiting that didn't have a pitch speed indicator anywhere.  Nor could you tell who was pitching based on any info board in the stadium.  These are things I never would have considered mandatory prior to starting my minor league tour.  But it is quite noticeable now since literally every other ballpark I've visited has them.  So this would be a straightforward upgrade for Lake County to make which would put it more in line with the rest of its league.

This game featured a pair of teams that I had already seen once prior on this trip.  The starting pitcher for West Michigan, Joe Miller, was actually the same pitcher who threw a bulk of the innings in their home game that I was at the previous Saturday.  Unfortunately, it was the second straight time in which I wasn't able to see elite prospect Max Clark play in the outfield as he was once again the designated hitter for the Whitecaps.  Lake County got on the board first in the bottom of the third when Christian Knapczyk won the lefty-on-lefty battle with Miller by hitting an opposite field homer to left that just snuck over the wall.  It did not take long for the Whitecaps to answer.  In the top of the fourth, in another lefty-on-lefty battle, Austin Murr took Matt Wilkinson deep to the pull side this time for a no doubt two run homer.  I actually saw Murr play a couple times for AA Erie a year ago.  The 26 year old seems to be an org player at this point since he has spent most of this season back down in High A, but also some time in AAA as well.  Immediately following Murr, Peyton Graham made it back-to-back with a home run to left.  That gave the Whitecaps a 3-1 lead.  The Captains came right back in the bottom half with a pair of runs.  The latter was scored on a double by Knapczyk, his third hit of the game off of Miller, leaving him just a triple shy of the cycle with more than half the game remaining.  He would not add to that hit total, however.  Unfortunately for the Captains, the Whitecaps just kept scoring after this.  In the top of the fifth, top infield prospect Kevin McGonigle hit yet another left-on-left home run off of Wilkinson, an opposite field shot that landed on the tarp covering the bleachers.  This wound up being McGonigle's last home run for West Michigan as he was promoted to AA Erie about a week and a half later.  The Whitecaps added another in the sixth and three more in the seventh to open up an 8-3 lead.  The seventh inning rally started with four straight singles to begin the inning.  West Michigan didn't just get it done with the bats though.  Center fielder Seth Stephenson made one of the best catches I've ever seen in a minor league game in the sixth inning.  He raced back on a ball hit deep to the right-centerfield gap and made a leaping grab as he banged into the wall on what would have been at least a double, and possibly a home run.  That, along with effective relief pitching made the Whitecaps lead hold up.  An unearned run on a passed ball in the seventh would be the Captains only tally against the West Michigan bullpen.  The Whitecaps won this by a final of 8-4.

That extended the home team losing streak on this trip to four games.  With the win, West Michigan joined Great Lakes as two time winners on my trip, while Lake County became the only team I saw lose twice.  Just one game remained, a short drive to the south in Akron on Saturday night.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Canal Park in Akron, OH

Fifth Third Field - Toledo Mud Hens

Charlotte Knights (CHW) @ Toledo Mud Hens (DET)

June 26, 2025

Knights 12, Mud Hens 9

W: Mike Clevinger
L: Keider Montero

HR: Colson Montgomery 2 (CLT), Hao-Yu Lee (TOL), Brewer Hicklen (TOL)

Attendance: 4,736
Time of Game: 3 hours, 16 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Toledo, OH
Opened: 2002
Capacity: 10,300
Level: Triple A
League: International

On Thursday, I made the short trip from Fort Wayne to Toledo, which took me back to the state of Ohio for the final leg of the Midwest trip.  After five straight Midwest League games, it was back to the AAA International League.  This was my second stop on the trip at a ballpark I had previously visited.  In this case though, I had only been to Fifth Third Field one prior time and it was at least a decade ago.  At the time, it was probably the nicest minor league park I had ever visited.  While that is no longer the case, this is still a very nice park that likely served as an inspiration for many of the newer parks built in the years since, particularly those situated in downtown locals like this one.  Toledo is the long time AAA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, a logical pairing since it is less than an hour drive between the two cities.

Fifth Third Field is located in Toledo's Warehouse District.  The brick exterior gives the park a classic feel which melds perfectly with the older brick buildings in the neighborhood.  Most vantage points from inside the stadium provide a nice view of the downtown skyline.  Pedestrians walking past the stadium in the outfield can peer inside to catch a glimpse of the game while in progress.  There are very few outfield seats, but a bunch of different picnic, party and special seating areas out there, including along Hessman Alley above the left field wall.  That is named after former Mud Hens slugger Mike Hessman, who is Minor League Baseball's all-time home run leader.  The lack of outfield seats is compensated by having a legit second deck above the concourse spanning most of foul territory, plus a suite level above that.  The Mud Hens team store rivals Durham's for having one of the most extensive product inventories I've seen.  Makes sense because this is another one of the flagship minor league franchises.  There was a decent sized crowd on hand for this Thursday night game, which was delayed about 20 minutes due to "weather in the area".  Perhaps there were a couple rain drops before the scheduled start, but this seemed to be an unnecessary delay.

For the second time this year, veteran Mike Clevinger got the start for Charlotte in a game I attended.  He was slightly more effective this time around, but still far from dominant.  Just like his start in Charlotte, Colson Montgomery was the star of the game for the Knights.  Montgomery has had well documented struggles in AAA for the past two seasons, but not when I've been in the house.  This was the second time I've seen him hit multiple home runs in a game.  This particular game started a week long hot streak for him which ultimately led to him making his major league debut about a week later.  He got the scoring started in this game by launching a breaking ball from Toledo starter Keider Montero out to deep right center for a homer.  The Knights really roughed up Montero in the third inning.  They started the frame with four straight singles.  Immediately after the Mud Hens went to the bullpen, Corey Julks delivered a two run single to make it a five spot for the inning, increasing the lead to 6-0.  Toledo got three of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning though.  Rehabbing Matt Vierling had a RBI single followed by a two run opposite field homer by Hao-Yu Lee.  The Mud Hens got within one in the sixth inning on a two run single by Gage Workman, against the organization he briefly played for earlier in the season.  Workman was an offseason Rule 5 pick by the Cubs, was traded to the White Sox before eventually being returned to his original organization of Detroit.  That hit made it 6-5 Charlotte.  That's as close as Toledo would get though as the Knights put up another five spot in the top of the seventh.  Charlotte had five hits in the inning including three doubles.  They sent 10 men to the plate in the frame while taking an 11-5 lead.  For the second time in the game, the Mud Hens answered a five run inning with three of their own in the bottom half.  This time, the runs were all scored on a three run bomb by Brewer Hicklen that banged off the video board.  It probably would have reached the street outside the stadium if the board wasn't there.  So that made it 11-8 Knights after seven.  Charlotte added one more in the eighth on Montgomery's second homer of the game, a lefty-on-lefty 417 foot blast to nearly dead center field.  That completed a 3 for 4 night with two homers, three RBI and four runs scored for Montgomery.  The Mud Hens tacked on a run in the bottom of the ninth, but that was not nearly enough as the Knights won this one by a final score of 12-9.

That made it three straight games on this trip in which the road team won by scoring double digit runs.  This was the most competitive game of the three though.  Following this game, I made the trek across Northern Ohio to Eastlake for one final Midwest League game on this trip.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, OH