CAROLINA BASEBALL: GAME 12
Charleston RiverDogs
We head back to the South Carolina coast to Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park to see the Charleston RiverDogs, the Low-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The RiverDogs had just clinched a playoff spot and would go on to be champions of the Low-A East -- their first Minor League title in almost 100 years. Tonight, the RiverDogs host the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.
For the 12th game of our Carolina baseball odyssey, we drove to Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park, home of the Charleston RiverDogs, the Low-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and the hottest Minor League Baseball team of 2021.
The ballpark known as “The Joe” is named after Charleston's longest-serving (10 terms!) mayor, Joseph P. Riley, Jr., who was instrumental in its construction. As with so many ballparks on this trip and in California, The Joe was designed by sports-architecture firm Populous and cost $19.5 million when it was completed in 1997.
Pro baseball in Charleston goes back to 1886 and the Seagulls (later, Sea Gulls and Gulls), who won the South Atlantic League title in 1907. They became the Palmettos, or Pals, from 1920-1922. The Charleston Rebels played from 1940-1953, then the ChaSox for just 1959-60. The Pirates (later Patriots, for the Bicentennial) played from 1973-78 in the Western Carolinas League. They had no winning seasons and lost 22 in a row, with dismal attendance.
Charleston became a charter member of the South Atlantic League in 1980. But over the course of three team names (Royals, Rainbows, RiverDogs) and four affiliations (Kansas City, San Diego, Tampa Bay and the Yankees), the organization had never won a league title — the longest current drought in Class-A baseball, and the third-longest in Minor League Baseball. This would change in 2021.
The RiverDogs name originates from a story that sailors in Charleston would refer to rats on the banks of the nearby Cooper and Ashley rivers as "river dogs.” It was chosen in a name-the-team contest held at a local Piggly Wiggly, which is a fact that an editor might remove from a fictional story as too on-the-nose. The RiverDogs are co-owned by Bill Murray, who I dreamed would make one of his unannounced appearances at The Joe, but somehow he did not make it to the ballpark on this wet Tuesday night.
Behind the first-base side of the ballpark, marshland created by the neighboring Ashley River creates a beautifully wild scene next to this well-organized, sporting-event venue.
A dog theme would permeate the evening. The RiverDogs share Joseph P. Riley,. Jr. Park with The Citadel Bulldogs, and our game was a Dog Day Tuesday, with good dogs on display throughout the ballpark.
People were throwing baseballs on the concourse, which is always a good sign. It was also National Night Out, a community-police officer program. Locals were given the chance to send an officer down into a dunk tank with a good aim.
Also on the concourse: the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame, a collection of 14 plaques honoring the game’s legends at discovering baseball talent.
Time to check out the merchandise. I opted for a newly minted Charleston RiverDogs playoff shirt — novel for a brief period before the team won the Low-A East championship a few weeks later. Dad scored a gorgeous aqua-blue hat.
The man knows how to do a head shot
The RiverDogs came into this game with a record of 77-31, defying all statistical odds. They had officially earned a spot in the playoffs two nights before in a game we saw against the Columbia Fireflies. Charleston would go on to win the city’s first Minor League title in nearly 100 years.
The RiverDogs would be facing the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, who we’d seen three nights before, and who came into the game at an even .500 on the year.
As the game approached, heavy gray clouds gave way to illuminating light, giving us our best baseball skies of the trip thus far.
The game began innocuously as fans settled into their seats. The RiverDogs nudged a run across in the bottom of the second on a single, an error, and a sacrifice fly.
I went to check out the options for dinner and came across Charlie T. RiverDog, the team’s mascot and biggest dog on the block.
With the skies already mottled with gray-orange impossibilities, I walked over to the marsh again for a last look before dark.
Eager to try another daring dog, I chose the HomeWrecker: a hot dog with slaw, bacon, pimento cheese, pickled okra, and BBQ sauce. I wanted to love it, but, to be honest, I would not recommend it.
Having eaten the dog, I found more dogs. They were having a pretty great time at the ballpark.
Ben Brecht
Charleston starting pitcher Ben Brecht pitched more than 75 innings for the RiverDogs in 2021, finishing with a tidy 3.23 ERA. But his worst two innings of 2021 came in the third and fourth on this night against the Pelicans. In the third, two doubles and two singles brought home three runs for Myrtle Beach. And in the fourth, the wheels came off completely. A leadoff walk was followed by a sacrifice bunt fumbled by RiverDogs third baseman Johan Lopez. The Pelicans next batter also bunted, and beat it out, loading the bases.
When Brecht walked the next batter on four pitches, bringing in a fourth run, it may have been a sign to call it a night. There was a visit to the mound, but Brecht — a very solid performer in 2021 — stayed in the game.
On the very next pitch, he gave up a grand slam.
The game felt like a fizzle for the home team, a letdown on a wet night after the celebration of an extra-inning win for a playoff berth. In the bottom of the sixth, however, the RiverDogs jolted to life with a pair of singles and back-to-back homers by left fielder Patrick Merino and Lopez. Suddenly, it was 8-6.
Charleston put runners on in the seventh and eighth while holding the Pelicans scoreless for five innings, but to no avail.
Pelicans reliever Jaron Wright notched the final eight outs for the Pelicans, who came away winners. As players filed off the field, a graphic on the scoreboard spelled out the bottom line for the RiverDogs in 2021.