SL Rocket City Trash Pandas

Trash Pandas Struck Down in Birmingham 16-4

Published on May 20, 2022 under Southern League (SL)
Rocket City Trash Pandas News Release


BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - The Rocket City Trash Pandas fell behind in the middle innings before the game unraveled late in a 16-4 loss to the Birmingham Barons in front of a crowd of 5,894 at Regions Field on Thursday night in the third game of their six-game series.

For the second straight game, it was the Barons that opened the scoring. This time, it was on a soft single to left from Lenyn Sosa to score Ian Dawkins from third against Trash Pandas starter Aaron Hernandez (L, 0-3).

An inning later, the Barons added on. Hernandez got the first two outs of the inning with strikeouts. But the third out wouldn't be his as Evan Skoug was hit by a pitch and Dawkins walked to end Hernandez's start. Reliever Sean McLaughlin entered and immediately allowed a two-run double to Rodriguez and an RBI single to Sosa to make it a 4-0 game.

Hernandez was saddled his third consecutive loss after allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings.

In the fifth, Rocket City struck back against Birmingham starter Sean Burke (W, 1-1). Kevin Maitan reached with a two-out walk. Ryan Aguilar followed with an opposite-field two-run homer off the foul pole in left field for his fourth home run of the season and third consecutive game with a home run to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.

Birmingham got the runs back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer from Craig Dedelow and an RBI single from Dawkins to make it a five-run game at 7-2. Kolton Ingram was able to limit the damage for Rocket City with 1.2 clean innings.

Aguilar drove in Rocket City's third run of the night with a ground out to plate Jose Gomez in the top of the seventh and Preston Palmeiro's double allowed Orlando Martinez to come home with another run in the eighth.

After allowing a run in the seventh, Trash Pandas reliever Connor Higgins couldn't finish the eighth, allowing six more runs and getting only two outs. Designated hitter Braxton Martinez was called on to get the final out and did so after giving up two more runs as the score ballooned to 16-4. With his first career appearance on the mound, Braxton Martinez became the first position player in Trash Pandas history to pitch.

Maitan was the only Trash Pandas player to record a multi-hit game in a 2-for-3 performance. In his return to Rocket City after spending time with the Los Angeles Angels, Aaron Whitefield went 1-for-5 to extend his Trash Pandas franchise record hitting streak to 17 games.

The Trash Pandas (20-16) and Barons (14-22) continue their series on Friday night. First pitch at Regions Field is set for 7:05 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 May 20, 2022


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