California Baseball: Day 5
Sacramento River Cats
To begin our two-week, 1,200-mile journey from the Bay Area to San Diego, my wife Marianne drove Danny and I to Sacramento International Airport to rent a Hyundai Tucson. My old Acura sedan had been struggling in the heat, and I didn’t want to chance anything by taking it long distances to remote places in the summer. Plus, if you’re doing that much driving, it’s nice to have a newer, quieter, sturdier car more suited for some of the back-country places we’d be visiting in the national parks. At least, that is what I had told myself, and it worked.
As we approached Sacramento, the three of us received text messages from Verizon saying that we had gone over our monthly data limit and would be charged an extra $15. “Danny, c’mon,” I growled, knowing that his out-and-about video viewing had cost us in the past. I noted his video calls with his girlfriend Maja in Stockton and San Francisco and told him he would need to be a bit more frugal.
About 15 minutes later, another text buzzed in from Verizon: another charge. And another one, about 10 minutes after that. I was alarmed. It felt impossible and out of control, a billing system gone mad. Danny insisted he wasn’t doing anything and raced through Settings menus to try to sort out what was happening. My brain swirled. I wanted to focus on the baseball trip now, please, not on solving a mystery of modern life. I implored Danny to check on what his phone was doing, then tried to put it out of my mind.
We picked up the Tucson, said our goodbyes to Marianne, and checked into our hotel just north of the city center. At least they had Wi-Fi.
After a short rest, we were on our way to Raley Field (renamed Sutter Health Park for 2020), home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. Located on the western edge of the Sacramento River, across the lemon-yellow Tower Bridge from downtown, Raley Field opened in 2000 to host the River Cats’ inaugural season and has been a key part of the team’s success story. A new ballpark in a fast-growing capital city, affiliated with a popular San Francisco Giants club just 80 miles away, winning 12 division titles with future stars of multiple World Series — it has all added up to some of the best attendance figures in all of Minor League Baseball.
The $46.5 million stadium seats 10,624 but can accommodate over 14,000 with lawn seating on the first-base side and in right field. And while it is now 20 years old, Raley Field still has that new-ballpark feel, with plenty of concession options, kids’ play areas, and niche seating — from club seats to a party deck to tables for four behind home plate.
We walked first down the left-field line, where we encountered a painting party that had been there well before the ballpark opened. They were each creating their own rendition of an island sunset, a stylized watercolor with the bright hues of an alien world.
As they finished up, a group from the local Corvette club — whose shiny machines had stood on display outside the front gate — toured around the warning track and towards home plate.
It was Princesses & Pirates Night at the ballpark, so plenty of kids and adults came dressed in their costumes of choice. Families staked out spots on the lawn for blankets while their kids explored the “Down on the Farm” play area nearby. It was going to be a beautiful night for baseball.
For MiLB's Copa de la Diversión, the River Cats appear as the Luchador-themed Dorados de Sacramento.
It would be time for some ballpark food soon. The River Cats were rumored to be selling a special creation — some might say abomination — just for this homestand: Dinger’s Bacon-Wrapped Sonoran Churwaffle Dog with Honey Chipotle Cream. Dinger is the River Cats mascot, and the rest of the title pretty much speaks for itself. I was very excited to see this monstrosity but was not planning to eat one, because I had plans to be upright and mobile for the next couple of days. But alas, I did not even manage to spot this absolute unit in the wild.
Instead, I opted for a more modest buffalo chicken sandwich with coleslaw, which was plenty good without declaring open warfare on my digestive system.
The River Cats play in the 16-team Triple-A Pacific Coast League, which stretches from Tacoma, Washington, to Nashville, Tennessee, about 2,000 miles from the actual Pacific Coast. The PCL is one of two Triple-A leagues, the other being the International League, which plays along the Atlantic and in the Midwest.
Tonight, Sacramento would face the Iowa Cubs, with both teams leading their respective divisions. The River Cats held a two-game lead over the Fresno Grizzlies, who we would see in just two nights.
Conner Menez
Sacramento started left-hander Conner Menez, who would finish the season pitching eight games for the Giants after beginning the year with AA Richmond. He sailed through the first inning, with two strikeouts and a groundout.
Matt Swarmer took the hill for the Cubs and promptly gave up hits to the first five batters, two of them doubles, and the Cubs suddenly found themselves down 3-0. Sacramento added another in the third inning, when shortstop Abiatal Avelino smacked a home run to right-center.
Wispy clouds came to life with color as the sun began to set. I walked down the right-field line to enjoy the improving views. Meanwhile, the Cubs got to work, scoring three runs in the fourth on a pair of doubles and a home run.
As I walked back to my seat, a text message came through. Verizon. $15. Two more notifications came, about 20 minutes apart, letting me know that more of my money had vanished. Suddenly, it was hard to concentrate on anything else. I tried to bring up the Verizon site on my phone to see what was happening or make changes, but I didn’t have my password handy. And I didn’t even know what I was trying to see, other than the fact that Danny was using a metric crap-ton of data somehow, which I already knew. This needed to wait.
Down on the field, Iowa added two more runs in the seventh to take the lead, 5-4. The deflated crowd, which had seen its team’s strong start eliminated by the Cubs comeback, went through the motions singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch. Dinger the River Cat, dressed in a red-striped pirate costume topped with a bandana and gnarled “hair,” worked to whip up the fans again.
Overall, the entertainment at Raley Field felt trapped between the big leagues and the minors. There were a couple of on-field promotions, including pirates tossing t-shirts into the crowd from the dugouts. But most of the fun was portrayed through the video screen above left-center field — the Kiss Cam, a Beefcake Cam, interviews with kids. It felt cold and distant to just look up at the screen, especially when we spend so many days and nights doing the same thing in our homes and offices.
Abiatal Abelino
Levi Michael
In the bottom of the eighth, Sacramento pushed across a vital tying run when Levi Michael singled in Abelino, who had doubled to get on base with two outs. The two would be a lethal pairing in 2019, typically hitting 1-2 in the lineup. In the course of the 2019 season, they would help the River Cats win not just their division, conference, and Pacific Coast League championship but also the Triple-A Baseball National Championship in September — a 4-0 shutout of the Columbus Clippers, the Cleveland Indians’ Triple-A affiliate in the International League. In that final, deciding game of the 2019 Minor League season, Avelino and Michael both went 3-for-4, collecting six of the team’s eight hits.
The teams went scoreless in the ninth to bring on extra innings. It was our chance to see one of the many new baseball rules that are regularly tested out in the minor leagues. Starting in 2018, when teams are tied after nine innings, each team begins their at-bat in extra innings with a runner on second base. This approach not only speeds things up but also gets the fans’ attention. It’s not just another inning. Both teams are always just a base hit from scoring. Something is likely to happen, and soon.
And so it did. In the top of the 10th, Cubs second baseman Robel Garcia led off with a double, easily scoring Ian Happ from second base, and the Cubs took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the inning. But after a leadoff walk to put runners at first and second, Sacramento third baseman Ryan Howard doubled down the left-field line to bring in both runs and win the game for the River Cats, 7-6. The Sacramento team poured onto the field as Howard bounced his helmet off the infield dirt in celebration.
When things settled down, we were treated to a second consecutive night of great fireworks, a perfect exclamation point for a wild and wonderful evening of Minor League baseball.
It would be several days before we figured out what had happened with Danny’s phone: a remote updating of his entire music library, a process seemingly with a mind of its own, gobbling up megabytes (and dollars) with a ceaseless hunger.
