FNB Field - Harrisburg Senators

Bowie Baysox (BAL) @ Harrisburg Senators (WAS)

June 16, 2024

Baysox 8, Senators 3

W: Alex Pham
L: Michael Cuevas

HR: John Rhodes (BOW), Dylan Crews (HBG)

Attendance: 5,846
Time of Game: 2 hours, 38 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Harrisburg, PA
Opened: 1987
Capacity: 6,187
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

The finale of my NY/PA trip was in Harrisburg, PA.  While Harrisburg is less than 100 miles from Altoona, the drive is considerably longer than that because of those pesky Appalachian Mountains in between.  It was still a relatively easy Sunday morning drive for me though.  Even though Harrisburg is only about a two hour drive from home for me, this was my first time visiting the city.  I was only there for the afternoon game however, after which I drove home.

FNB Field is one of the most uniquely situated stadiums I've ever been to.  It is located on an island, named City Island, in the middle of the Susquehanna River, west of downtown Harrisburg.  There is only one road to the island from each side of the river.  There is a pedestrian bridge as well though.  In retrospect, I should have parked downtown and walked to the stadium because getting out of the parking lot on the island after the game was a lengthy ordeal.  I have been meaning to do some research about the original design and construction of this stadium, because it seems to me they made some odd decisions.  Despite the incredibly unique location, the stadium is pretty generic and barely takes advantage of its surroundings.  From most vantage points within the stadium, it is not apparent that you are on an island in the middle of a river.  The main grandstand where a vast majority of the seats are located points to the south with trees being about all you can see beyond the outfield walls.  This is a fairly old ballpark that has received some upgrades over the years.  The upper portion of the main grandstand appears to have originally been aluminum bleachers, but now has regular stadium seating.  There is still a large bleacher section down the first base line.  The third base line out to left field seems to be the center of activity for the park, with the only entrance to the park being out that way as well.  This is the first AA park I've been to this year that has a concourse circling the entire stadium.  Despite some possible missed opportunities with the stadium design, this is a nice park in a cool location.

This game was the AA version of the Battle of the Beltways, with the Nationals affiliate hosting the Orioles AA squad from Bowie.  This game could have been very heavy on elite prospects, but Orioles top catching prospect Samuel Basallo had the day off.  The Senators had two MLB.com Top 50 prospects in their lineup though:  center fielder Dylan Crews and third baseman Brady House.  Crews was taken by the Nats with the #2 pick in the draft almost exactly a year prior and House is a former first round pick of theirs as well.  As it turns out, both were promoted to AAA soon after this game.  In fact, this wound up being Crews' last game with Harrisburg.  He made his last one a good one.  In his second plate appearance, he hit an opposite field home run down the right field line, his fifth of the season.  Later, he picked up his 15th stolen base.  While he doesn't have flashy tools, he does everything well.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him join James Wood in the Nationals outfield before this season ends.  Crews' homer was one of the few highlights for the Senators in this one.  Bowie pitchers recorded 14 strikeouts including eight by starter Alex Pham.  The Baysox took control of this game in the third.  The inning started with three straight singles, only one of which was hit hard.  Senators pitcher Michael Cuevas hurt his own cause by airmailing a throw to first on a comebacker that would eventually allow three unearned runs to score.  The big blow was a three run homer by John Rhodes that hit off the left field foul pole and gave the Baysox a 5-0 lead.  Rhodes had himself quite a day.  The homer was his second of five hits in five plate appearances.  The other hits were all singles, but three of them were of the RBI variety.  His line:  5 for 5 with 6 runs batted in.  Crews' homer got the Sens on the board and kicked off a three run inning that cut the Bowie lead to two after four innings.  But Harrisburg would not score again and Bowie added single runs in the fifth, seventh and ninth, each on RBI singles by Rhodes.  The game ended in an 8-3 victory for the Baysox, ending my walk-off homer streak at two.

Thus concluded my fun eight day, seven game trip.  There were three walk-off victories in those games, including two via home runs.  Home teams went 5-2 during the trip, with both of the losses belonging to Nationals affiliates (Rochester and Harrisburg).  This brings me up-to-date on minor league ballparks I have visited this year.  I will soon be venturing out on yet another trip, my last of the year.  I intend to write about the ballparks I visit on that one soon after I return home.

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Next ballpark:  TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ

Peoples Natural Gas Field - Altoona Curve

Erie SeaWolves (DET) @ Altoona Curve (PIT)

June 15, 2024

Curve 11, SeaWolves 8

W: Grant Ford
L: Jake Higginbotham

HR: Gage Workman (ERI), Jase Bowen (ALT), Brenden Dixon (ALT)

Attendance: 5,729
Time of Game: 2 hours, 59 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Altoona, PA
Opened: 1999
Capacity: 7,210
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

My longest drive between ballparks during this June trip was from Binghamton to Altoona, in West-Central Pennsylvania.  It was a rather scenic drive through the Appalachian Mountains.  The city of Altoona is located within the Alleghany Mountain Range.  It has to be one of the smallest cities in the country that is the home of a minor league team in one of the upper two levels of affiliated baseball.  But being a relatively short drive from the big league club in Pittsburgh, the area's passionate fanbase makes it an ideal location for the team.

I would say Peoples Natural Gas Field was my favorite ballpark I visited on this trip.  Its location provides a couple unique and scenic aspects.  First there is the mountainous backdrop in the not too far distance beyond left and center fields.  Then there is an old wooden roller coaster in neighboring Lakemont Park that rises just beyond the right field wall.  The amusement park appeared to be closed on this day, which I would later learn was because the park is closed for the year due to a lack of funding for maintenance.  No idea if it will reopen in the future, but I would hope they at least leave the roller coaster standing.  It is not just the exterior of the park that is nice.  There are two separate levels of seating with a legit concourse on each level and luxury boxes on top of the second level.  There is a party deck down the left field line and bleacher seating in straight away left, making this the first AA park I've been to so far this year with ample fixed seating in the outfield.  Beyond that is a berm that can accommodate additional fans on nights with especially large crowds.  As for concessions, I tried one of their renowned Curve Burgers, which was tasty.  The Curve have a pair of mascots, including a furry yellow thing named Loco who briefly sat down in the empty seat next to me at one point.  Then there is a fish appropriately named Al Tuna who would pop out of the center field wall gate whenever the Curve scored.  It was a fun atmosphere all-around on this night.  I really liked everything about this park.

As wild as the game in Binghamton was the night before, this one was right up there too.  It was my second time seeing Erie, the Tigers AA affiliate, on this trip.  Three of the same pitchers who had appeared in the game in Erie also pitched on this night, including the starter Troy Melton.  And all three of them fared much worse in this game as the team allowed 10 more runs than they did in the 4-1 home win.  Altoona's starter was Bubba Chandler, who recently became the Pirates top pitching prospect after Paul Skenes graduated from prospect status.  Chandler did not have a great night in this one.  In the third, the seven hole hitter Gage Workman worked a 12 pitch at bat that ended in a solo homer to tie the game.  It was the start of a trend for Erie's bottom of the lineup.  The bottom three hitters had all but one of their RBIs.  The Curve answered in the bottom half of the inning on a two run homer by Jase Bowen.  Chandler ran into more trouble in the fourth loading the bases on a pair of singles sandwiched around a walk.  He then struck out the next two hitters, but was unable to come out unscathed as Erie's #8 hitter, catcher Eliezer Alfonzo cleared the bases with a 3 run double.  #9 hitter Austin Murr followed with a RBI single which gave the SeaWolves a 5-3 lead and chased Chandler from the game.  Erie would add two more in the fifth on a whacky play.  With runners on first and third, Chris Meyers fouled out to right field, with the runner on third tagging and scoring.  The catcher then fired to second to try and get the trailing runner, but threw it into center field allowing the runner who had started the play at first base to come all the way around to score.  Erie carried a seemingly safe 8-4 lead into the bottom of the eighth.  Joel Peguero came on to pitch for Erie and proceeded to get seeing eye singled to death, surrendering five hits, four of which were relatively softly hit grounders that happened to find holes.  Altoona scratched out three runs to cut the lead down to a single run heading into the ninth.  Jake Higginbotham came on to pitch for the SeaWolves in the bottom of the ninth, looking for his second save on my trip.  It wasn't to be.  Carter Bins got the next Curve rally started lining one off the wall down the third base line, just barely reaching second safely.  Following a walk, Yoyner Fajardo lined a base hit to center to tie the game, setting the stage for Curve third baseman Brenden Dixon.  Dixon fouled off several 0-2 pitches from Higginbotham before finally getting one he could square up as he launched a three run walk-off homer to left.  Altoona won this one by a score of 11-8.  8 of the Curve's 15 hits came in the final two innings.

I think I can safely say this is the first time I've ever witnessed walk-off homers on consecutive nights in two different ballparks.  Surprising enough that I'd see it happen twice during the same trip.  Would it happen again the following afternoon in Harrisburg?  Find out soon!

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Next ballpark:  FNB Field in Harrisburg, PA

Mirabito Stadium - Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Somerset Patriots (NYY) @ Binghamton Rumble Ponies (NYM)

June 14, 2024

Rumble Ponies 9, Patriots 7

W: Trey McLoughlin
L: Carlos Gomez

HR: Alexander Vargas (SOM), Nolan McLean (BNG), Jeremiah Jackson (BNG), Ryan Clifford (BNG)

Attendance: 4,976
Time of Game: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Binghamton, NY
Opened: 1992
Capacity: 6,000
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

While Binghamton is a direct shot south of Syracuse on I-81, I decided to take a detour to Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where I had last been over 20 years prior.  I could do a whole blog post covering my visit to Cooperstown, but I'll just make some quick comments here instead.  It should be a bucket list item for any baseball fan.  While the museum itself is awe inspiring, my favorite part of the experience was simply walking down main street in the quaint town.  I think Cooperstown is the perfect location for the Hall of Fame.  It is in the middle of nowhere, meaning the only people who go there are doing so specifically to visit the HoF.  So when walking the streets, you know you are surrounded by nobody but fellow baseball enthusiasts.  It is coincidental that I'm writing this on the day of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  I imagine the town has a much different feel today than it did on the Friday afternoon in June in which I visited.  After spending a good chunk of the morning and afternoon in Cooperstown, I hit the road again and drove to Binghamton for a Friday night game.

Mirabito Stadium opened in 1992.  It is a bit of an old fashioned minor league ballpark in an old fashioned city.  This is a pretty nondescript stadium.  There is a closed concourse beneath a single level seating area.  It lacks the frills of most of the other stadiums I've visited this year.  Even though this is very much a city stadium, it is located in a spot that provides nice views of rolling hills beyond the outfield fence.  Really diving into the old fashioned theme, for this game the Rumble Ponies wore special uniforms and took on the identity of the Creatures, a nod to the Twilight Zone TV series whose creator Rod Serling was a Binghamton native.  The Twilight Zone was well before my time, so most of themes of this night flew over my head.  They seem to have an affinity for all of it in Binghamton though.  As for the team's usual name, Rumble Ponies is also a locally inspired identity.  Apparently Binghamton considers itself the carousel capital of the world.  Can't say I saw or rode any carousels on this visit though.

This game between the two New York MLB teams' AA affiliates was the first game I've attended this year that featured three of MLB.com's Top 100 prospects:  Somerset outfielder (DH on this night) Spencer Jones, Binghamton first baseman Ryan Clifford and starting pitcher Brandon Sproat.  I saw Sproat and Clifford playing for the Mets High A affiliate Brooklyn at Jersey Shore back in April as well.  This was actually my third look at Clifford who was playing for Binghamton in the game I saw in Reading a few weeks earlier.  All three of these guys played prominent roles in this game.  Sproat got the start for the Rumble Ponies.  He still seems to be on a pretty strict pitch count as he was pulled after 70 pitches and just 3 2/3 innings.  He was quite impressive in that time though, striking out eight batters and allowing a single run.  This was far more dominant of an outing than when I saw him in April at a level lower.  The only run he allowed scored immediately after his departure on a single by J.C. Escarra during which the final out of the inning was recorded at third base, starting a stretch of three straight half innings featuring an outfield assist, not something you see every day.  In the bottom of the fourth, Binghamton took a 2-1 lead on another run scoring play that featured an out on the bases.  Jeremiah Jackson doubled down the left field line, scoring Clifford who had reached on his second walk of the game and sixth in the three games I've seen him play this year.  But Jackson was thrown out at third in an ill advised attempt to stretch it into a triple.  Nolan McLean immediately followed that with an opposite field solo home run to give the Rumble Ponies a two run lead which would not last long.  The Patriots tied the game in the top of the fifth on a two run single by Jones, a 6'6" left handed hitting center fielder by trade who has been battling through strikeout issues most of this season.  He was the DH in this game, but if I didn't know better, I would not have guessed his usual position was CF.  That said, the Yankees are no strangers to tall dudes playing CF since Aaron Judge spends a lot of time out there as well.  A couple batters later, Jones was thrown out trying to score on a flyout to right, but Matt Rudick made a perfect throw to nail him.  The back and forth affair continued in the sixth.  Somerset took a 5-3 lead in the top half, but Binghamton responded with three in the bottom half, highlighted by a two run homer by Jackson.  Each team scored a run in the seventh thanks to pitcher wildness.  Somerset got theirs on a wild pitch and Binghamton answered with a bases loaded hit by pitch taken by Clifford.  Somerset reliever Luis Velasquez actually hit two batters in the inning, walked three and threw a pair of wild pitches in his wild outing.  The Rumble Ponies took a one run lead into the 9th.  But the Patriots tied the game on a solo home run by Alexander Vargas, his first home run of the season.  Vargas had just come into the game on defense the previous inning.  I'm not exactly sure why that move was made.  You don't normally replace your cleanup hitter for defensive purposes in a tied game.  Anyway, it certainly worked out.  But it was all for naught.  In the bottom of the 9th, Ryan Clifford polished off his incredible game with a no doubt, two run, walk-off homer to give the Ponies a 9-7 victory.  What a game!

This brought an end to the New York part of my trip.  It was back to Pennsylvania for the weekend for two final games.

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Next ballpark:  Peoples Natural Gas Field in Altoona, PA

NBT Bank Stadium - Syracuse Mets

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (PHI) @ Syracuse Mets (NYM)

June 13, 2024

Mets 14, IronPigs 4

W: Dom Hamel
L: Kolby Allard

HR: Ben Gamel (SYR)

Attendance: 6,502
Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Syracuse, NY
Opened: 1997
Capacity: 10,815
Level: Triple A
League: International

Since I had already made the drive to Syracuse the afternoon before, I had some time to spend in the city before the Thursday evening baseball game.  This being my first time in Syracuse, I decided to check out the Syracuse University campus.  Most of my college campus experiences have been in the flatlands of the Midwest, so I was a bit taken aback by how hilly the campus was.  Being summer, it was also very quiet.  Unfortunately, I was not able to go inside the RCA Dome, home of Syracuse football and basketball.  From the outside though, it is unlike any college sports facility I've ever seen.

I would say NBT Bank Stadium is the nicest of the three consecutive New York AAA parks I visited.  I believe it has undergone renovations in recent years since the team was purchased by the New York Mets.  But even ignoring that fact, it has the best design of the three parks.  The main concourse on the lower level provides views of the playing field throughout.  This park has as large of a true upper deck as I've seen in a minor league park, extending well down the base lines on both sides.  There is a party deck in right field and a full fledged bar just above the outfield wall in left field.  This did end my streak of visits to downtown ballparks.  NBT Bank Stadium is in the northern outskirts of the city.  There is not a lot going on in the immediate vicinity of the park.  The tradeoff though is that there is ample parking at the facility.  Syracuse has been an affiliate of a whole bunch of big league clubs over the years.  The Mets are a logical match though in Central New York, so I would imagine local interest in the team has increased since they became a Mets affiliate in 2019.  There was a nice crowd on hand for this Thursday night game.

This was a pretty wild game that switched from a solid pitchers duel controlled by Lehigh Valley to a Syracuse route in a blink of an eye.  In the end, it was an ugly game for the IronPigs as they committed three errors and multiple other defensive miscues that went down as hits, officially leading to six unearned runs.  Halfway through the game, the IronPigs had a 2-0 lead and had outhit the Mets 7-2.  It all changed in the bottom of the fifth though.  Veteran big leaguer Ben Gamel got the Mets on the board with a solo home run, surprisingly the only homer hit in this 18 run game.  Two walks and an error set up recently demoted Brett Baty who knocked in two with a single to center, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead that they would not surrender.  In fact, they scored 14 straight runs before Lehigh Valley would get on the board again.  Gamel struck again with a RBI double in the sixth.  All hell broke loose in the bottom of the eighth.  Here is the sequence of events in that frame:  single, error on third baseman (his second of the game), single, single, double (on a routine fly ball that the CF seemed to lose in the twilight), single (on a pop up to right that the RF also seemed to lose in the twilight), double play groundout, walk, single, walk, single, walk, flyout.  In total, 13 batters stepped to the plate in the inning.  7 runs were scored, only three of which were credited as earned runs.  However, if routine plays had been made, the Mets probably would have only scored 1 or 2.  The IronPigs did scratch out a couple runs in the top of the ninth to make the final score slightly less embarrassing at 14-4.  Every Mets batter who played in this game had a hit, with 17 in total.  Luisangel Acuna led the way with 4 hits and 4 RBIs from the leadoff spot.  He played center field in this game, after having played second base when I saw Syracuse a few weeks prior.  Baty played second in this game and had 3 hits and 3 RBIs.  Interesting that he was at second since most of his professional career has been at third.  Perhaps the Mets think he has a better shot of returning to the big leagues as a more versatile defensive player.

This concluded the AAA portion of my trip.  The final three games were AA Eastern League tilts, starting with a game in Binghamton, NY on Friday night.  But first, I took a detour to Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Next ballpark:  Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton, NY

Innovative Field - Rochester Red Wings

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NYY) @ Rochester Red Wings (WAS)

June 12, 2024

RailRiders 3, Red Wings 0

W: Cody Morris
L: Adonis Medina

S: Anthony Misiewicz

Attendance: 5,348
Time of Game: 2 hours, 50 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Rochester, NY
Opened: 1997
Capacity: 13,500
Level: Triple A
League: International

My second of three straight days seeing New York AAA games was in Rochester for a Wednesday matinee.  Rochester was one of just two stops on this trip where I did not spend a night in the area.  It was a morning drive from Buffalo to Rochester and then a late afternoon drive to Syracuse.  So my time in the city was rather limited.  This was the third straight game at a downtown ballpark though, so I did at least get a little bit of a feel for the city.  Innovative Field is conveniently located on the west part of downtown.  Shortly before my trip, I had someone who goes to school in Rochester tell me that it annually ranks as one of the cloudiest cities in America.  I can only assume he made that up because it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon.  A perfect day for baseball.

Like Buffalo, the main concourse here is beneath the seating area and does not encircle the entire stadium.  There are no actual seats much beyond the infield on either side.  But the main seating bowl is quite large, with sections above and below a walkway.  The only outfield vantage points are from party areas down the line in both left and right field.  I originally intended to sample some of the most popular food items at each of the parks I've been attending, but often have failed to do so because I don't like waiting in lines when there are other options.  But in this case, I had plenty of time to kill and decided to try a local favorite, a beef on weck sandwich.  It was worth the wait.

This game featured the Yankees and Nationals AAA squads, both of which I had seen play during my Eastern PA trip a few weeks prior.  Being a Yankees affiliate, Scranton had plenty of supporters at this game in the heart of New York State.  The home team was well supported too though.  Unfortunately, I just missed seeing Nationals top prospect James Wood again, as he returned from his hamstring injury the week after this game.  Of course, I've seen him play in person for the Nats in DC a couple times since.  With Wood out, the game's biggest prospect was Scranton/Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez, who at the time was working his way back from Tommy John surgery last fall.  He went 1 for 5 in this game.  Unfortunately, he suffered an oblique injury a few days later, further delaying his return to the big leagues.  Ben Rice played first base for the RailRiders and had a pair of hits.  He made his MLB debut a week after this game and has given the Yankees offense a nice boost since then.  To say Rochester's bats were cold in this game would be an understatement.  Despite being handed eight walks, they recorded just one hit the entire game, a fourth inning single by Travis Blankenhorn, and did not score.  Josh Maciejewski, who is currently pitching out of the Yankees bullpen, got the start for Scranton and allowed just that one hit with no runs in 4 1/3 innings.  Rochester starter Andrew Alvarez pitched five scoreless innings in his second career AAA start.  The game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh.  Oscar Gonzalez hit a line drive to right which Blankenhorn slipped while charging in on, allowing the ball to skip past him, turning what should have been a single into a one out triple.  Greg Allen followed with a double to right to give Scranton/WB a 1-0 lead.  In the ninth, the RailRiders added some insurance as Allen once again knocked in Gonzalez with a double.  He would then score on a sac fly by Jeter Downs to give the RailRiders a 3-0 lead, which was the final score.

While I didn't see much offense in this game, the following night made up for it.  After this fun afternoon at the ballpark, it was on the road again as I drove a little further east to Syracuse where I spent the next two nights.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse, NY

Sahlen Field - Buffalo Bisons

Worcester Red Sox (BOS) @ Buffalo Bisons (TOR)

June 11, 2024

Bisons 3, Red Sox 2

W: Brandon Eisert
L: Lucas Luetge

Attendance: 5,771
Time of Game: 2 hours, 33 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Buffalo, NY
Opened: 1988
Capacity: 16,600
Level: Triple A
League: International

There are three International League teams located in very close proximity to one another in Western/Central New York (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse).  The way the minor league schedule has been configured in recent years, it is fairly uncommon for three geographically close teams in the same league to all be home in the same week.  I planned this whole trip around this particular week when all three of the New York AAA teams happened to be playing at home.  I went to a Tuesday night game in Buffalo following a morning and early afternoon visit to nearby Niagara Falls, where I had last been over 20 years ago.  Where I had never been before was downtown Buffalo, which is where Sahlen Field is located.

Sahlen Field is probably the most major league looking minor league park I have ever visited.  That makes sense since it was originally built in the late '80s in hopes of attracting a MLB expansion team.  And then the park received a big league makeover a few years ago in advance of becoming the Blue Jays temporary home for the pandemic shortened 2020 season and then again for a couple months in '21 before Canada loosened its Covid related border crossing restrictions.  The downtown location provides plenty of options for those trying to make a full day out of their trip to a Bisons game, although I didn't exactly do that.  As for the stadium, the lower level seating bowl in foul territory is expansive and probably contains as many seats as most major league parks do on that level.  There is a decent sized second deck as well.  What makes it clearly a minor league park, however, is the lack of outfield seating besides a party area in right field.  I don't love that the concourse is completely under the seats.  While the entire stadium design was understandable in hopes of drawing a MLB team, I really think it is *too* big for the minor leagues.  On this Tuesday night, the attendance was a little under 6K, which is pretty good for a cool Tuesday evening in the minors.  But it felt like a smaller crowd than that with so many lower level empty seats.  It was quite different than the intimate atmosphere I've experience at other parks this year.

Before I get to the details of the game, I have a couple other items of note.  First, I found it interesting that they performed both the Canadian and American national anthems before the game, despite these being two American based teams.  I'm not sure if this is because of Buffalo being right across the bridge from Canada, or if this is something all of Toronto's affiliates do.  I guess I will have an answer to that after I visit New Hampshire later this month.  Next, this was the first game I've attended where the fully automated balls-and-strikes system was in use.  Prior to a couple weeks ago, both AAA leagues were using an automated system by which the home plate ump would receive a signal before making the ball/strike call.  This system was in use for weekday games only.  Then on weekends, they went to a challenge system where the batter or catcher could challenge a call made by the ump and a review of the pitch would immediately display on the scoreboard.  Now, they have switched to the challenge system for all AAA games, which would seem to indicate this is the system more likely to come to MLB in the near future.  As for the fully automated system in use for this game, if I wasn't previously aware of its use, I'm not sure I would have been able to tell the difference from any other game.  The ump received signals quickly enough that there really wasn't a noticeable delay with his calls.  I did see at least one hitter shake his head when called out on a pitch he felt was not a strike.  Obviously, it wouldn't have made sense to argue the point with the ump though.

On to the game.  Blue Jays' rookie pitcher Yariel Rodriguez made a rehab start for Buffalo.  Safe to say it went pretty well.  He only went four innings, but 10 of the 12 outs he recorded were strikeouts.  He gave up just three singles and no runs.  Worcester starter Grant Gambrell was rather effective too, but in a far less dominant fashion.  He went five innings allowing just two singles and one run, but walked three with just one strikeout.  The Bisons carried a 1-0 lead into the sixth before the Red Sox finally got something going.  With a runner on first, former Notre Dame slugger Niko Kavadas singled to right.  Right fielder Steward Berroa made a poor throw to third, which got away to allow a run to score.  Worcester DH Mickey Gasper followed with a booming double off the wall to put the Red Sox up 2-1.  It was the second of three hits, two doubles, for Gasper on the night.  The Bisons offense was pretty stagnant all night, only recording four hits in total.  But they made each of them count as they scored in every inning in which they had a hit.  They tied the game in the eighth on an Orelvis Martinez single scoring Addison Barger, both of whom are among the Blue Jays top prospects and have spent time with the big league club this year.  In fact, Martinez made his MLB debut not long after this game.  He appeared in one game with the Blue Jays... and then received an 80 game PED suspension which he is currently serving.  Anyway, the game remained tied into the bottom of the 9th.  The Bisons had runners on first and second with two outs and Barger at the plate.  He hit a slow chopper up the middle that second baseman, former Olympic speedskater Eddy Alvarez got to, but two hopped a throw to first that Kavadas was unable to grab.  It bounced far enough away that the runner on second, Cam Eden, came all the way around to score on what was ruled an infield single.  It started a trend of walk-off winners I would witness on this trip.  3-2 Buffalo was the final.

That was a fun ending to a busy day.  But there was not much time to rest afterwards because an afternoon game in Rochester was on deck the next day.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Innovative Field in Rochester, NY

UPMC Park - Erie SeaWolves

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (TOR) @ Erie SeaWolves (DET)

June 9, 2024

SeaWolves 4, Fisher Cats 1

W: Troy Melton
L: Trenton Wallace

HR: Andres Sosa (NH), Chris Meyers (ERI), Julio Rodriguez (ERI)
Attendance: 1,646
Time of Game: 2 hours, 26 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Erie, PA
Opened: 1995
Capacity: 6,000
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

My first extended minor league baseball trip of the year took me all over Pennsylvania and New York.  It was a seven stop trip covering four AA and three AAA parks.  Most of the drives between cities were quite short as there is a lot of high level minor league baseball in this part of the country.  By far the longest drive of the trip was on the first day, from home up to Erie in the very Northwest corner of Pennsylvania for a Sunday afternoon game.

Unlike all of the other ballparks I had visited up to this point this year, Erie's UPMC Park is located right in the heart of downtown, only about a mile from Lake Erie.  While I wouldn't exactly say the city was bustling on this particular day, there did appear to be a lot of dining and entertainment options in the area.  The park is built right up against Erie Insurance Arena, home of Erie's minor league hockey team.  In fact, the arena effectively is the left field wall, with a yellow home run line about 2/3 of the way up the side of the arena.  This whole park has a uniquely asymmetric layout, not just the playing field with the short dimensions to left.  If you split the park in half from straight behind home plate out to center, the seating areas on each side are quite different.  A majority of the seats are on the third base side, which has an expansive grandstand above the concourse walkway.  On the first base side, there is a second level above the concourse, albeit not a large one, and a party deck further down the line.  This park has received a number of upgrades over the years as it was not originally designed to be a AA stadium.  It is still one of the smaller ones I've been to so far.  There was not a very big crowd at this sunny but cool and windy Sunday afternoon game.

This game between Toronto and Detroit's AA affiliates was a well pitched affair on both sides.  Erie's starting pitcher Troy Melton threw five strong innings, allowing just one run with six strikeouts.  New Hampshire's lefty starter Trenton Wallace has had an excellent season in AA so far this year, but wasn't quite as impressive as Melton in this one, surrendering a pair of home runs and three runs allowed in 4 1/3 innings.  The teams traded solo home runs in the second inning.  Fisher Cats catcher Andres Sosa took one out the opposite way to right center to get the scoring started.  Then SeaWolves outfielder Chris Meyers answered in the bottom half with a homer of his own, his tenth of the season.  The only multi-run frame of the game came in Erie's half of the fifth.  Julio Rodriguez (no, not THAT Julio Rodriguez) led off the inning with a home run to give the SeaWolves a lead they would keep.  They added a second run later in the inning on a RBI groundout by Trei Cruz.  Erie scratched out another run in the sixth on Rodriguez's second RBI hit in as many innings, this one a single.  That made the game 4-1 Erie, which was the final score.

While there was a steady breeze during the game, it was nothing compared to what I experienced at an outdoor beer garden near the lake about an hour or so after the game.  For a solid 10-15 minutes, huge gales of wind blew through, requiring anything that might move to be tightly held onto.  Fortunately, there was no precipitation accompanying this wind as the front moved through.  Other than the unique weather occurrence, my first time in Erie was a quite pleasant experience.  The next day, I drove along Lake Erie towards Buffalo.

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Next ballpark:  Sahlen Field in Buffalo, NY

PNC Field - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Syracuse Mets (NYM) @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NYY)

May 26, 2024

Mets 10, RailRiders 2

W: Jose Butto
L: Will Warren

HR: Rylan Bannon (SYR), Carlos Cortes (SYR), Luis Torrens (SWB)
Attendance: 4,157
Time of Game: 2 hours, 53 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Moosic, PA
Opened: 1989
Capacity: 10,000
Level: Triple A
League: International

Amusingly, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders don't play in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre.  PNC Field is located in Moosic, just South of Scranton.  I made the relatively short drive up from Allentown on Sunday morning for an early afternoon game between the two New York MLB teams' AAA affiliates.

PNC Field might be the most scenic ballpark I have visited so far this year.  Nestled right up against Montage Mountain, natural rocks make up the outer perimeter of the stadium in right field.  A large cliff rises above the stadium in the outfield with a hotel at the top of that cliff overlooking the park in center.  The stadium opened in 1989 but was essentially rebuilt in 2013.  So it has a quite modern feel inside despite technically being 35 years old, on the older side of current stadiums.  The layout is quite similar to Lehigh Valley with an expansive lower seating bowl and a spacious concourse circling the entire park.  Luxury boxes make up most of the second level.  There is perhaps a bit less variety in concessions compared to Lehigh Valley.  On the whole though, it is a tough call on which of these two Eastern PA AAA parks I prefer.  There was certainly a much smaller crowd on hand for this game in SWB though, despite it being a bit of a rivalry game for New York baseball fans and a beautiful holiday weekend afternoon.

Besides DJ LeMahieu making what wound up being his last rehab appearance for the RailRiders, probably the most notable player in this game was Mets' infielder/outfielder Luisangel Acuna, brother of Robert Acuna Jr, acquired from the Rangers in last year's Max Scherzer trade.  Luisangel is considerably smaller than his brother, so it is unrealistic to expect him to ever have the same kind of power.  He can certainly fly though.  Acuna played second base in this game, recorded one hit and scored three runs.  Unfortunately, his brother suffered a season-ending knee injury with the Braves while this game was going on.  This game was decided pretty early.  One of the Yankees more advanced pitching prospects, Will Warren had a rough afternoon.  Most of the damage against him was done in the third inning when the Mets sent 10 men to the plate on their way to scoring six runs.  After a pair of leadoff walks, shortstop Rylan Bannon hit a three run homer to right.  By the end of the frame, it was 7-0 Syracuse.  On the flip side, Mets starter Jose Butto had a great afternoon.  In his five innings, he gave up just a pair of singles and no runs.  The RailRiders didn't score until the seventh, after which they apparently decided a six run deficit was insurmountable and went with two different position players on the mound for the final two innings.  That's certainly not something that would ever happen in a six run game with two innings left in a MLB game.  Josh VanMeter had the first opportunity on the mound and got tagged with three runs on a three run homer by Carlos Cortes.  Luis Torrens, who hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth, moved from catcher to pitcher for the ninth and somehow pitched a scoreless frame.  Interestingly enough, Torrens was traded from the Yankees to the Mets not long after this game.  Maybe the Mets were looking for an extra bullpen arm in addition to a backup catcher?  Anyway, the game mercifully ended in a 10-2 Mets win.

That wrapped up my fun Memorial Day weekend trip.  Three unique parks, all of which I would highly recommend checking out if you are ever in Eastern Pennsylvania during baseball season.

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Next ballpark:  UPMC Park in Erie, PA