SL Rocket City Trash Pandas

Trash Pandas Edged by Braves in 3-2 Loss

Published on August 30, 2023 under Southern League (SL)
Rocket City Trash Pandas News Release


PEARL, Mississippi - The Rocket City Trash Pandas slowly let a 2-0 lead slip away, suffering a 3-2 loss to the Mississippi Braves in the second game of a six-game series at Trustmark Park on Wednesday night.

Making his first start in the Angels organization, Rocket City righty Erik Martinez began the game in fine form, striking out a pair in the bottom of the first inning.

The Trash Pandas offense broke through in the top of the second against Mississippi starter Daniel Martinez. Singles from Gabe Matthews and Tyler Payne put runners on first and third with nobody out. Jose Gomez followed with a sacrifice fly to right, plating Matthews to open the scoring.

Rocket City quickly doubled the lead in the second. D'Shawn Knowles got it started with a single to center. With Knowles on the move to second, Kyren Paris crushed a double to the gap in left-center, allowing Knowles to come all the way home for a 2-0 Trash Pandas lead.

Erik Martinez ended a strong start by working around a baserunner in a scoreless bottom of the third. Over three clean innings, he allowed one hit and one walk, striking out four to hold the lead.

Jack Dashwood was first out of the Rocket City bullpen in the fourth. He issued a one-out walk to Cade Bunnell in the fourth. Josh Fuentes followed with a double to the gap in left-center. Knowles fielded the ball near the wall, threw to Mac McCroskey at short, and he fired home to catch Fuentes trying to score and preserve the 2-0 lead.

An inning later, the M-Braves loaded the bases with one out in a bid to get even. Dashwood escaped the jam by inducing a pop out from Luke Waddell and a ground out from Jesse Franklin. That would be the end of Dashwood's outing, in which he allowed three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in two scoreless innings.

John Swanda took over for the Trash Pandas in the sixth and allowed a run on a bases-loaded balk. He got through the jam with the lead by getting a leaping catch from Paris on a line drive from Cody Milligan to keep the 2-1 lead intact.

Franklin tied the game in the seventh with an RBI single to score Cal Conley, who began the inning with a double. Swanda returned in the eighth and worked into another jam. A pair of singles put runners on the corners with two outs. A wild pitch from Swanda went to the backstop, allowing Hendrik Clementina to come home with the go-ahead run.

In the ninth, Mississippi closer Tyler Owens (S, 2) set the Trash Pandas down one, two, three to finish the victory.

Swanda (L, 0-5) took the loss, giving up three runs over three innings, striking out three in his fifth loss of the season. Offensively, Paris went 2-for-4 to extend his on-base streak to 29 games, tying the Trash Pandas franchise record. Paris and Bryce Teodosio each stole a pair of bases in the loss.

The Trash Pandas (55-67, 24-29 second half) and Braves (53-68, 20-33 second half) continue the series at Trustmark Park on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio.

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Southern League Stories from August 30, 2023


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