Trash Pandas End Road Trip With 7-4 Defeat
The Rocket City Trash Pandas fell behind early and couldn’t come all the way back in a 7-4 loss to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the finale of their six-game series at Blue Wahoos Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Pensacola wasted no time in scoring first off Rocket City starter Jake
The Rocket City Trash Pandas fell behind early and couldn’t come all the way back in a 7-4 loss to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the finale of their six-game series at Blue Wahoos Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Pensacola wasted no time in scoring first off Rocket City starter Jake Lee. (L, 1-2). Tristan Pompey drew a bases-loaded walk to plate the first run. An RBI single from Lorenzo Hampton added two more and Connor Justus’ sacrifice fly gave the Blue Wahoos a 4-0 lead after one inning. Peyton Burdick’s RBI double in the second increased the lead to five.
Rocket City got on the board in the third as Matt Jones launched a long solo home run, his second of the season, over the left field fence. The Blue Wahoos responded in the bottom of the frame on a two-run homer from Justus to make it 7-1 in favor of the home team.
Rocket City rallied to cut the deficit in half at 7-4 in the fifth on RBI doubles from Jones and Ray-Patrick Didder as well as a run-scoring single from Orlando Martinez.
In the eighth, the Trash Pandas got the tying run to the plate with nobody out. But Gavin Cecchini and Izzy Wilson struck out to end the threat. A two-out single from Torii Hunter Jr. kept the game going in the ninth, but Michael Cruz then struck out to end it.
Lee took the loss after giving up five earned runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 2.0 innings. Kieran Lovegrove was first out of the bullpen and gave up two runs in his only inning of work. Making his Angels’ organizational debut after being signed earlier in the week, Tyler Danish pitched 3.0 scoreless innings with two hits against and three strikeouts to keep the game within reach. Connor Higgins and Oliver Ortega each threw a clean inning to maintain the three-run deficit the Trash Pandas.
Jones led the way for Rocket City offensively by going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, two runs scored, and two RBI while Martinez also had two hits in the loss.
After a day off on Monday, the Trash Pandas (8-10) return to Toyota Field on Tuesday night to begin a six-game series with the Birmingham Barons (12-6). First pitch from Toyota Field is set for 6:35 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio. The game will also be televised locally on WAAY-31.6, This TV.