Bullpen Brilliant, but Wahoos Walked Off in 10-Inning Defeat to Trash Pandas
Madison, Ala. - The Pensacola Blue Wahoos got excellent bullpen work from four different relievers, but were walked off by the Rocket City Trash Pandas 5-4 in 10 innings on Wednesday night. With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, Cole Fontenelle looped an RBI single to shallow
Madison, Ala. - The Pensacola Blue Wahoos got excellent bullpen work from four different relievers, but were walked off by the Rocket City Trash Pandas 5-4 in 10 innings on Wednesday night.
With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, Cole Fontenelle looped an RBI single to shallow right field that scored Nelson Rada from third for the winning run. With their second walk-off loss of the season, Pensacola's winning streak ended at five games.
The Blue Wahoos jumped ahead 2-0 in the third inning with back-to-back RBI singles from Kemp Alderman and Nathan Martorella against Rocket City starter Walbert Ureña. The Trash Pandas would counter with a two-run homer from Oscar Colas in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 2-2.
Johnny Olmstead doubled in the fourth inning and scored on a wild pitch to put the Blue Wahoos ahead 3-2, but the Trash Pandas once again answered back in the bottom of the fifth against Pensacola starter Robby Snelling. Four straight hits, including RBI singles from Sam Brown and Colas, put Rocket City up 4-3.
Josh White, who had recorded 19 consecutive outs since his last hit allowed, wriggled out of the jam and prevented further damage. Denzer Guzman was thrown out trying to swipe home on a double steal attempt, and Cole Fontenelle struck out to keep the score 4-3 to the sixth inning.
White ultimately recorded four outs before snapping his hitless streak, contributing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Luis Palacios worked a 1-2-3 seventh, and the Blue Wahoos rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the eighth with three singles. Ryan Ignoffo brought home Alderman with a two-out RBI single to right field, but Caleb Ketchup threw out Martorella trying to score from second to keep the game tied.
Dale Stanavich worked 2.0 hitless innings for the Blue Wahoos to force extras, but Jared Southard (W, 2-2) retired the Blue Wahoos in order in the top of the 10th without allowing their placed runner to score. Josh Ekness (L, 2-1) got the first two outs of the bottom of the 10th before Fontenelle's bloop single scored Rada and sent the Blue Wahoos to a 5-4 defeat.
With the loss, the Blue Wahoos failed to gain ground on the first-place Biloxi Shuckers in the first half division race. They remain 5.0 games back with 10 to play before the standings reset in the second half of the season.
The series against the Trash Pandas continues on Thursday, with a first pitch from Toyota Field scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT. A live broadcast begins at 6:30 on BlueWahoos.com/radio and the MiLB app.