Covenant Health Ballpark, home of the Knoxville Smokies, is in its second year of existence, but I wasn't able to make it during its inaugural season. I rectified that omission Wednesday night to watch the Birmingham Barons again, and I'll be at tonight's game as well.
Their previous home, Smokies Ballpark in Kodak, was only 25 years old and perfectly fine for hosting a Double-A crowd, except it was surrounded by parking lots off I-40 20 minutes west of Knoxville, near the exit that people take to go to the ghastliest Smoky Mountain tourist traps. Covenant Health Ballpark, like so many others, is neatly situated by a walkable neighborhood (Old City), making it easy to incorporate a ballgame as part of a greater night out.
We talked about this last year when the Carolina Mudcats played their final games, but after the contraction of minor league baseball, it's really hard to think of a bad minor league ballpark that's in use by an affiliate. Chattanooga opened a new park this year, and the other ones that came to mind for me -- the former Lackwanna County Stadium (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre), NBT Stadium (Syracuse) and Harry Grove Stadium (Frederick) -- were all renovated since the last time I visited. I've got nothing.
Charlotte 11, Durham 6
- Braden Montgomery went 1-for-4 with a double, walk and two strikeouts.
- Shane Murphy: 4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 55 of 88 pitches for strikes.
- Peyton Pallette has picked up wins in both Charlotte appearances: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 18 of 28 pitches for strikes.
Knoxville 6, Birmingham 2
- Colby Shelton went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Anthony DePino, 1-for-3 with a homer, walk and strikeout.
- Samuel Zavala was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Winston-Salem 1, Hub City 0
- Caleb Bonemer went 0-for-3 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- George Wolkow was 0-for-4.
- Kyle Lodise, 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Notes:
*The Dash have won all three games thus far despite a grand total of five runs on eight hits.
Kannapolis 4, Hickory 3
- Abraham Nunez went 2-for-4.
- Jaden Fauske was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Javier Mogollón, 0-for-3 wiht a walk and two strikeouts.
- Matthew Boughton went 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Rylan Galvan, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Alexander Albertus went 0-or-4 with a K.
ACL White Sox 7, ACL Mariners 3 (7 innings)
- Nick McLain doubled twice, walked and struck out.
- Landon Hodge was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Yordani Soto went 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout. He was also caught stealing.
- Alejandro Cruz, 1-for-4 with a K. He was also picked off.
- Eduardo Herrera singled twice and struck out once.
- Christian Oppor: 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 WP
DSL White Sox 8, DSL Giants Black 1 (7 innings)
- Felix Lebron went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Carlos Vielma went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Sebastian Romero homered twice during a 2-for-3 day.
- Ronald Cardozo doubled, walked and struck out.
- Roderic Ramirez: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
