2018 Akron RubberDucks Game Notes Richmond Flying Squirrels (23-21) vs. Akron RubberDucks (29-19) San Francisco Giants Cleveland Indians Game 49 • Saturday, May 26, 2018 • 6:35 p.m. Canal Park • Akron, OH Radio: WARF 1350 AM • WARF iHeart Channel • TuneIn App • Television: MiLB.TV TodAy’s StArting Pitchers: Sat. 5/26, 6:35 p.m. vs. Richmond: Akron: LHP Sean Brady (1-3, 4.17) Richmond: RHP Chase Johnson (0-1, 5.40) Upcoming GAmes And Pitching ProbAbles (subject to chAnge): Sun. 5/27, 6:35 p.m. vs. Richmond: Akron: RHP Shao-Ching Chiang (4-1, 3.25) Richmond: RHP Taylor Hill (NR) Mon. 5/28, 1:05 p.m. vs. Richmond: Akron: RHP Jake Paulson (3-1, 2.25) Richmond: RHP Cory Taylor (6-1, 4.12) Tue. 5/29, 6:00 p.m. at AltoonA: Akron: RHP Zach Plesac (1-0, 0.00) AltoonA: RHP Dario Agrazal (3-2, 2.79) Wed. 5/30, 6:00 p.m. at AltoonA: Akron: RHP Dominic DeMasi (4-1, 6.49) AltoonA: LHP Brandon Waddell (2-1, 2.68) RubberDucks News And Notes: Last Time Out Akron’s Willi Castro drove in five runs on four hits, and Dominic DeMasi overcame a rough start and retired 17 of the last 18 batters he faced, as the RubberDucks torched the Richmond Flying Squirrels, 14-6, Friday night at Canal Park in Akron, Ohio. Where We StAnd At 29-19, the RubberDucks are in 1st place in the EL West, four games ahead of 2nd-place Richmond. The RubberDucks… -have won five straight games and are now a season-high 10 games over the .500-mark. -have scored 10+ runs in a game six times this season, going 5-1 in those games. -are 14-7 in the friendly confines of Canal Park. -rank 1st in the EL in ERA (2.78), 6th in batting (.252) and tied for 7th in defense (.976). PlAyer Notes -OF Andrew CalicA is 5th in the EL in hitting (.339) and has an eight-game hit streak, 5/17-present (17-33, .515). -OF Connor MArAbell ranks 9th in the EL in hitting (.326). -RHP Mitch Brown leads all EL relievers in opponent batting average (.111). He lowered his ERA to 0.89 last night. About the Opposition Richmond is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Willie Harris is in his first season as manager. The Flying Squirrels originated in Richmond in 2010 after previously operating in Norwich, Connecticut, as the Connecticut Defenders. Notable alumni of the Richmond franchise include all-star shortstop Brandon Crawford and second baseman Joe Panik. The Flying Squirrels defeated the RubberDucks in the 2014 Western Division Series three games to one, but fell to Binghamton in the ELCS, 3-0. TrAnsAction Wire The Indians announced that former RubberDucks and current Indians OF BrAdley Zimmer will join OF’s BrAndon Guyer and Lonnie ChisenhAll on a minor league rehabilitation assignment tonight. Zimmer, 25, has been on the DL since 5/15 with a left rib contusion. He crashed into the center-field wall at Yankee Stadium on 5/5. Zimmer is hitting .224 with nine RBI and four steals this season. Guyer, 32, injured his neck in a strange collision with a fan while chasing a foul ball at Houston, 5/19. He is hitting .150 with three homers and 10 RBI for the Indians. Chisenhall, 29, has been on the DL since 4/8 with a right calf strain. On Deck The RubberDucks and Flying Squirrels will play again on Sunday evening at 6:35. Akron BasebAll: A Winning TrAdition This is the 30th season of Double-A baseball in Northeast Ohio, and the 22nd in downtown Akron. The franchise began as the Canton-Akron IndiAns in 1989, and then moved to Canal Park in Akron as the Aeros in 1997. Known as the RubberDucks since 2014, Akron has qualified for the Eastern League playoffs 16 times overall, and 10 of the last 16 years. The team has captured five EAstern LeAgue titles—2003, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2016. Notable alumni of the franchise include Jaret Wright, Victor Martinez, CC Sabathia, Grady Sizemore, Charles Nagy, Cliff Lee, Jhonny Peralta, Danny Salazar, Jose Ramirez, Roberto Perez, Francisco Lindor, Giovanny Urshela, Tyler Naquin and Bradley Zimmer. Last GAme RecAp RubberDucks 14 Thunder 6…Friday, 5/25/18 SummAry Akron’s Willi Castro drove in five runs on four hits, and Dominic DeMasi overcame a rough start and retired 17 of the last 18 batters he faced, as the RubberDucks torched the Richmond Flying Squirrels, 14-6, Friday night at Canal Park in Akron, Ohio. Turning Point The RubberDucks (29-19) scored six times in the fourth inning to break a 6-6 tie and assume a 12-6 lead. Joe Sever cracked an RBI double off Garrett Williams (1-4) to give the Ducks the lead. Mark Mathias added an RBI single to drive in Sever to make it 8-6, and Castro followed with a two-run double to left to to extend the lead to 10-6 and knock Williams out of the game. Sam Haggerty capped the scoring with a run-scoring single to right field that was misplayed by Luigi Rodriguez allowing two runs to score and hand the RubberDucks a 12-6 advantage. Mound Presence It was the worst of times and best of times for Akron starter Dominic DeMasi (4-1). The right-hander was rocked early, allowing four runs in the first inning and two more in the second on a two-run homer by Jerry Sands to fall behind 6-0. After that, however, the switch flipped and DeMasi went on an impressive run, retiring 16 consecutive hitters and 17 of the final 18 Squirrels he faced. He worked 6.2 innings and fanned six. Duck TAles Castro was instrumental in the comeback from 6-0. He ripped an RBI single in the second and clubbed a two-run double in the third that closed the gap to 6-5. He finished with four this when he collected his third double of the night in the eighth inning. His five RBI matches the team’s single-game high this season. Notebook The RubberDucks have won five in a row and improved to 14-7 at home…Indians outfielders Lonnie Chisenhall and Brandon Guyer appeared for the Ducks on minor league rehab assignments…Chisenhall was 1-2, with a two-run double in the second inning, and two walks…Guyer was 0-4…Bradley Zimmer is expected to join the team on a rehab assignment Saturday…Akron is now 10 games over .500, a season-high, and now hold a four-game lead over Richmond (23-21) in the El West…Time of game: 2:44… Attendance: 5,754. RubberDucks 2018 Field StAff #6 Tony MAnsolino, Manager—Former minor league infielder Tony Mansolino is in his first season as manager of the Akron RubberDucks. Mansolino, 35, was named the 17th manager in franchise history on January 17, 2018. He replaces Mark Budzinski, who was promoted to the major league staff after managing the RubberDucks last season. This season marks Mansolinoi’s third as a manager in the Indians minor league system. A native of Newport Beach, California, and now a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, Mansolino managed the Class-A Lynchburg Hillcats last season. He was named Carolina League “Manager of the Year” after guiding the Hillcats to a stellar 87-42 overall record and a Carolina League co-championship. Mansolino made his managerial debut with the Lake County Captains in 2016. Drafted by the Pirates in the 26th round of the 2005 draft out of Vanderbilt University, Mansolino played professionally for six years in the minor leagues and was a career .231 hitter with 19 homers and 173 RBI. In addition to the Pirates organization, he also played in the Phillies minor league system and with three independent clubs before moving into coaching in 2011. He served as the RubberDucks hitting coach in 2015. Mansolino played four years for head coach Tim Corbin at Vandy, including an NCAA tournament appearance in 2004. Mansolino’s father, Doug, is the minor league field coordinator for the Phillies. #47 Rigo BeltrAn, Pitching Coach—After spending the past three seasons as pitching coach at Class-A Lynchburg, former major league left-hander Rigo Beltran will serve as the RubberDucks pitching coach in 2018. Beltran, 48, joined the Indians in 2014, following seven years as a pitching coach in the Reds organization. After being selected in the 26th round of the 1991 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals out of the University of Wyoming, Beltran went on to pitch professionally for 16 seasons. He appeared in 78 major league games with the Cardinals, Mets, Rockies and Expos, going a combined 2-3, with a 4.40 ERA. Born in Tijuana, Mexico, and now a resident of Delray Beach, Florida, Beltran served as the pitching coach for Mexico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. #25 Kevin HowArd, Hitting Coach—RubberDucks hitters will have the luxury of getting advice from a College World Series champion this season, as former University of Miami star Kevin Howard will serve as the RubberDucks hitting coach. This will be his fourth season as a hitting coach in the Indians organization. Howard, 36, was a sophomore infielder when the Hurricanes defeated Stanford to win the 2001 college baseball title. The following summer, he was drafted in the 5th round by the Reds and went on to play professionally for 10 seasons. Howard slugged 93 homers and drove in 540 runs during his minor league career.