Rocket City Defeated By Birmingham 11-5

Despite another clutch grand slam at the plate, the Rocket City Trash Pandas bullpen unraveled in an 11-5 loss to the Birmingham Barons on Wednesday night at Regions Field.

Rocket City was nearing an early lead when Luis Aviles Jr. led off the game with a double and reached third with one out in the first. But Orlando Martinez struck out and David MacKinnon grounded out to third to strand Aviles Jr. on third.

The Barons then took the lead off Trash Pandas starter Davis Daniel in the bottom of the inning as Laz Rivera was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs to open the scoring.

In the third, Aviles Jr. led off with a walk, advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw, and came around to score the tying run on a single from Martinez.

But the tie wouldn’t last long as Birmingham jumped ahead again on a two-run double from Craig Dedelow in the bottom of the third. An RBI single from Carlos Perez scored Romy Gonzalez an inning later to put the Barons up 4-1 after four.

The fourth would be the final inning for Daniel. In his second Double-A start, the former Auburn pitcher gave up four runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Rocket City nearly led another golden opportunity to score slip away in the sixth. But the team’s hottest hitter wouldn’t let it happen. Walks to Izzy Wilson and Mitch Nay and a single from Ibandel Isabel loaded the bases with nobody out. Anthony Mulrine popped out and Elijah Greene was retired on a soft fly ball to center to keep the runners where they were. Aviles Jr. then crushed an opposite field grand slam 384 feet to right to turn the 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead. The grand slam is the Trash Pandas’ fourth of the season and second in as many nights.

Rocket City’s relievers were unable to hold the lead. Joe DeCarlo tied the game with a sacrifice fly off Ryan Clark in the sixth. In the seventh, Birmingham plated three runs off Luke Leftwich (L, 0-1), with Laz Rivera’s two-run single breaking the 5-5 tie in favor of the home team. In the eighth, the Barons broke it open with three runs off Kieran Lovegrove to open up a six-run lead.

Rocket City was unable to mount another comeback over the final two innings as the Barons evened the six-game series at one game apiece.

Aviles Jr. again starred for the Trash Pandas in a 2-for-4 performance including the grand slam, two runs scored, and a walk. He now has seven home runs and 17 RBI over his last seven games. Isabel and Didder each recorded a pair of hits for Rocket City in the loss.

The Trash Pandas (29-31) and Barons (32-29) meet again on Thursday 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.