Aldegheri tosses 7.0 shutout innings as Pandas beat Smokies 5-3

KNOXVILLE, Tenn – Sam Aldegheri (W, 1-1) tossed 7.0 shutout innings, allowing only five hits, as the Rocket City Trash Pandas (7-16) kicked off May with a 5-3 victory over the Knoxville Smokies (12-11) at Covenant Health Park on Thursday night.

The game featured two starting pitchers named Sam, both of whom came out of the gates pitching well, with the first three innings lasting about 45 minutes. Knoxville's Sam Armstrong (L, 0-2) retired the first nine Trash Pandas batters, but the visitors broke through in the fourth inning.

Christian Moore began the fourth with an infield hit, rolling a dribbler down the third base line. Nelson Rada then sacrificed Moore into scoring position. Denzer Guzman followed with a double down the left field line, driving Moore home to give the Pandas a 1-0 lead. Cole Fontenelle stepped up with two outs and delivered a single back through the middle, bringing Guzman home and extending the lead to 2-0.

Aldegheri was impressive in his fifth start of the season, retiring eight of the first 11 batters he faced. After the offense handed him a 2-0 lead in the fourth, he allowed back-to-back singles to start the bottom half but managed to escape the jam by inducing a flyout and a 6-4-3 double play.

The Verona, Italy native had baserunners throughout the next three innings but kept the Smokies off the scoreboard for a season-high 7.0 innings, striking out eight batters and walking three. This outing added to the Pandas' strong run of starting pitching, as their five starters have a collective 2.76 ERA with 57 strikeouts to 17 walks over the last nine games. The win by Aldegheri marked just the second win by a Rocket City starter this season.

The Trash Pandas added another run in the eighth inning when David Calabrese hit a towering 420-foot home run down the right-field line, marking his first homer of 2025. They loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, and back-to-back wild pitches by Will Jensen allowed Guzman and Fontenelle to score, extending the lead to 5-0.

Brady Choban needed just seven pitches to retire the side in the eighth inning during his league-leading 10th appearance of the year. Samy Natera Jr., who has been dominant lately, came on to pitch with a five-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. He started the inning by walking a batter and then allowed hits to three out of the next four batters. These hits, combined with a wild pitch, allowed Knoxville to cut the deficit to two runs at 5-3. Natera managed to close out the game by getting Hayden Cantrelle to fly out.

Guzman finished the night with a 2-for-4 performance, including a double and two runs scored, reaching base in 16 of his last 17 games. Fontenelle also went 2-for-4, contributing a double, a run, and an RBI.

The Trash Pandas and Smokies will face off again on Friday night for game four of their six-game series at Covenant Health Park in Knoxville. The game is scheduled for 6:00 pm CT, featuring Rocket City right-hander Joel Hurtado (1-1, 2.53 ERA) against Knoxville right-hander Grant Kipp (2-1, 3.12 ERA). Fans can watch the game on Bally Live and MiLB.tv or listen on ESPN 97.7 HD-2 and trashpandasbaseball.com.

The Trash Pandas will return to Toyota Field from May 6-11 to host the Montgomery Biscuits for a six-game homestand.

Tickets are available starting at just $8 for general admission and $16 for field-level seats. They can be purchased online at tptix.com. Fans can also purchase tickets in person during regular business hours at the Wicks Family Foundation Box Office or by calling 256-325-1403, option 1. Fans can book their group outings for the 2025 season by visiting trashpandasgroups.com or by calling the group sales department directly at (256) 325-1403, option 2. 20-game mini-plans are also available at tptix.com.