Rocket City Stunned In 4-3 Loss To Mississippi

The Rocket City Trash Pandas fought back to take a late lead, but the bullpen was unable to hold it in a 4-3 loss to the Mississippi Braves in the finale of their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at Trustmark Park.

The defeat sends the Trash Pandas into the All-Star break on a season-long seven-game losing streak after being swept on the road for the second time in the 2022 season.

Both Dylan Dodd of the Braves and the Trash Pandas’ Coleman Crow were sharp to begin the afternoon, with neither starter allowing a base runner in the first inning.

In the second, Mississippi opened the scoring when Drew Lugbauer was hit by a pitch to open the frame, and later came around to score on a two-out RBI single from Andrew Moritz.

Rocket City was unable to mount a comeback against Dodd early, as Anthony Mulrine’s two-out walk in the third was the only baserunner for the Trash Pandas until the fifth. There, Rocket City mounted a two-out rally to load the bases on walks to Braxton Martinez and Mulrine with a Bryce Teodosio single in the middle for the first hit for the Trash Pandas. With a chance to get even or take the lead, Jeremiah Jackson struck out to keep the Braves up 1-0.

Mississippi doubled the lead in the second on a sacrifice fly from Cody Milligan and nearly added to the lead with two outs. With a runner on second, Justyn-Henry Malloy hit a ground ball to third baseman Kevin Maitan. His throw was wide for an error, allowing Malloy to reach first. As the ball rolled away, Hendrik Clementina rounded third and tried to score, but was thrown out at the plate on a great throw by Martinez at first and Mulrine applied the tag to end the inning.

That would be Crow’s final pitch of the game. Over five innings, he allowed two runs on five hits without walking a batter and striking out two. Adam Seminaris was first out of the Rocket City bullpen in his first Double-A relief appearance and kept the deficit at two with a pair of scoreless innings.

Training 2-0 after seven innings, the Trash Pandas finally broke through offensively in the eighth. Jackson walked and Preston Palmeiro was hit by a pitch to put two on with one out. Jordyn Adams followed with a single up the middle, scoring Jackson to get Rocket City on the board. Ryan Aguilar then lined a single of his own to center to plate Palmeiro with the tying run and advance Adams to third. The next hitter, Jose Gomez, lifted a sacrifice fly to center, giving the Trash Pandas their first lead of the day at 3-2.

Kolton Ingram (L, 3-1) looked to protect the lead in the bottom of the eighth and struggled, allowing two singles and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with one out. Aaron Hernandez was next and looked to escape the jam. However, Clementina lined his first pitch to left for a single, plating two runs to restore the Mississippi lead at 4-3 after eight.

In the ninth, Mississippi reliever Odalvi Javier (S, 1) retired the Trash Pandas in order to finish the win for the home team and earn the save.

At the plate, the Trash Pandas were held to three hits in the loss as they were swept on the road by a South Division opponent for the second time this season.

Following the All-Star break, the Trash Pandas (50-37, 9-9 second half) return home to Toyota Field on Friday night, July 22 to begin a three-game weekend series against the Birmingham Barons. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio. The game will also be televised on WAAY 31.6, This TV.