Bats 10 Mud Hens 4

Minor League Baseball
Home Team: Toledo Mud Hens (Furbush)
Visiting Team: Louisville Bats (Reineke)
Venue: Fifth Third Field (Toledo, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Rankin

Blade Game Report | Box Score

Getting to go to this game was an pleasant surprise. I was in Toledo for my monthly trip to work in the office for a couple of days. The company I work for has a drawing for tickets to every Mud Hens home game, I think. Our graphics manager won these tickets in that drawing, but she couldn't use them, and since I'm rarely in town and don't get a chance to win, she decided to offer them to me. I'm a huge baseball fan, and any night at the ballpark is a good one, so I was more than happy to take them off her hands. And when I looked at the tickets and realized the Mud Hens were playing the Louisville Bats, the AAA affiliate of my beloved Cincinnati Reds, that was just icing on the cake.

And the Bats did not disappoint, living up to their name with a 17-hit, 10-run outburst that left little doubt about the outcome from pretty early on. Only one of those hits was a home run (third baseman Eric Eymann), but they banged a bunch of hits off the outfield wall. Fifth Third Field in Toledo is a pretty good-sized ballpark, so there's no shame in that. The Reds could use an infusion of offense in a couple of key areas, so it's nice to see that there's some help on the way.

Of course, I was really hoping to see some of the Reds organization's pitching depth on display, particularly in the person of Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban flamethrower they signed in the offseason. Alas, he didn't make it into the game; he'll likely be in Cincinnati before too much longer.

All in all, it was a great night. I got to spend a few hours at the ballpark, my friend Mike came along and we talked baseball pretty much the whole time, and there was a pretty cool fireworks show after the game, too. Not bad for what otherwise likely would have been a wasted evening.

Mud Hens 14 Clippers 5

Minor League Baseball
Home Team: Toledo Mud Hens
Visiting Team: Columbus Clippers
Venue: Fifth Third Field (Toledo, Ohio)
Game Time: 6:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

Blade game report | Official box score

Fifth Third Field and the entire Mud Hens organization is one of the few things that the city of Toledo definitely has in its favor. I've been to a handful of games since the stadium (a near replica of the one in Dayton, which was built first) opened, and it's always a good time. Although I care nothing for their parent organization, the Detroit Tigers, the Mud Hens are always fun to watch.

Never has that been more true than for this game. The bats were on fire from the first pitch, and the fifth inning was the first in which they didn't score. CF Ryan Raburn hit for the cycle, something I had never before seen in person, and 3B Mike Hessman was just a single short of doing the same. The Clippers, the Triple-A club of the Washington Nationals, scored enough runs later in the game to keep things interesting, but this one was never really in doubt. It was an entertaining game, a great night for baseball, and it was topped off by a postgame fireworks show. For just eight bucks per ticket, you'd be hard pressed to find a better value.