Guardians Baseball Insider

July 7,

The Akron RubberDucks were scheduled to host the Altoona Curve (Pirates) tonight at 6:35. Had the game been played, it would’ve been interesting to see if the Mallards of Main Street could’ve continued the every five years pattern of July 7 blowouts. Let’s take a look back at these runaway victories:

2005

For the most part, this game was an outright pitchers’ duel, but the then-Aeros won comfortably over the Reading Phillies 5-0 thanks largely to a four-run top of the fourth headlined by a two-out, three-run homer by C Javi Herrera. On the pitching end of things, starter Bear Bay and reliever Ryan Knippschild combined to pitch a four-hit shutout.

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2010

Half a decade later, the Aeros were at the Corner of State and Main and utterly silenced the Trenton Thunder 10-2. 1B Matt McBride was the driving force behind the Akronites’ offensive dominance as he was involved in seven of the Aeros runs, driving in five and scoring three (one overlaps as he hit a solo home run in the second, astonishingly the only Akron homer of the game). Starter Eric Berger pitched five shutout frames despite allowing nine baserunners (three hits and six walks).

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2015

The Akron baseball club, now know as the RubberDucks, again scored ten runs on the fifth anniversary of their 2010 triumph. This time, they allowed the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles) no runs. DH Anthony Gallas and RF Carlos Moncrief led the way with a pair of RBI each while Gallas and 2B Todd Hankins each hit one of the ‘Ducks’ two homers (both solo shots). 3B Yandy Diaz and CF Jordan Smith each had four hits to lead five Akron hitters with multi-hit nights. Gallas was the leading run scorer, crossing the plate thrice. The five-hit shutout came courtesy of starter Adam Plutko and relievers Zach Nuding and Jeff Johnson.

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Hopefully, we’ll be talking about a RubberDuck blowout victory on July 7, 2021.