Trash Pandas Bats Back Bachman In 10-4 Win

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The Rocket City Trash Pandas broke a close game open late to clinch their first series victory of the season with a 10-4 victory over the Birmingham Barons on Saturday night at Regions Field.

The win is the Trash Pandas’ third in a row and gives them the series win, taking four of the first five games in Birmingham with the finale set for Sunday afternoon. The 10 runs also marked the first time in team history the Trash Pandas have scored 10 or more run in three straight games, following a 13-3 win on Thursday and a 11-0 victory on Friday.

For the first time all week, the Barons were the ones that opened the scoring. Taylor Snyder reached with a two-out walk in the first. Yoelqui Cespedes followed with a double to right, allowing Snyder to come all the way home with the first run of the night against Rocket City starter Sam Bachman.

Rocket City responded at the plate in the top of the third. Aaron Whitefield led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a balk. A ground out moved him to third before Ryan Aguilar grounded an RBI single through the drawn infield to score Whitefield and tie the game at one. Bachman kept it tied with a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless bottom of the third.

The Trash Pandas responded to take the lead for the first time in the fourth. Orlando Martinez got it started with a walk. Tucker Flint singled to put two on to start the inning. Two hitters later, David Calabrese lined a single to center, allowing Martinez to come around and slide in on a close play at the plate to give the Trash Pandas the lead. A wild pitch allowed Flint to come home and make it a 3-1 game.

Pitching with the lead, Bachman struck out two more in a clean fourth and retired the Barons one, two, three in the fifth. In the sixth, Bachman got the first two outs on ground outs. But a two-out walk to Cespedes would end his night. Ivan Armstrong was first out of the Trash Pandas bullpen and struck out Tyler Osik to end the inning with the tying runs on base.

In his second start of the year, Bachman (W, 2-0) allowed one run on three hits, walking three and striking out seven to earn his second consecutive win to start the 2023 season.

The Trash Pandas broke the game open for good in the top of the seventh. Jose Gomez and Aguilar began the rally with back-to-back singles. Paris drove them both home with a double off the wall in center. Edgar Quero walked before the Barons got the second out of the inning. The third out wouldn’t come for a while. The two-out rally started with Flint’s single to right score Paris. The Barons turned to new reliever Vince Vannelle. He was unable to escape the jam. Kevin Maitan’s single up the middle scored Quero. A walk to Calabrese loaded the bases. In his second at-bat of the inning, Whitefield cleared the bases with a three-run double to the gap in right center, bringing the Trash Pandas into double digits for the third night in a row at 10-1.

Armstrong continued his strong relief with a solid bottom of the seventh. Jack Dashwood entered for his first appearance of the season in the bottom of the eighth and gave up three runs, including a solo homer to Jose Rodriguez. Luke Murphy wrapped up the win with a scoreless bottom of the ninth.

Offensively for the Trash Pandas, all nine starters scored, with Flint the only player to cross the plate twice. From the leadoff spot, Aguilar went 3-for-5 with an RBI while Whitefield recorded his first hits of the season in a 2-for-5 performance with three RBI. Quero took three walks in the victory while Flint recorded two hits for his third multi-hit game of the series.

The Trash Pandas (5-3) and Barons (2-6) wrap up their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at Regions Field. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio.