Pitching Powers Trash Pandas to Twin Bill Sweep

MADISON, Alabama – Behind two gems on the mound from starters Reid Detmers and Kyle Tyler, the Rocket City Trash Pandas swept a doubleheader from the Biloxi Shuckers with a 3-2 win in the opener followed by a 6-1 win in the second game in front of a crowd of 6,961 at Toyota Field on Sunday afternoon.

In the opener, Detmers was the star of the show for Rocket City. To begin the game, he pitched an immaculate inning, striking out the side, all swinging, on exactly nine pitches.

The Trash Pandas gave Detmers the lead in the bottom of the second as Mitch Nay led off the inning with a towering 458-foot home run to left-center. Later in the inning, Anthony Mulrine lined a double to left to score Ray-Patrick Didder.

In the third, Biloxi tied the game on a two-run homer from Cam Devanney, but that would be all they could muster off Detmers. An inning later, the Rocket City lefty again struck out the side, all looking, to keep the game tied.

Mulrine restored the Rocket City lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single to left, again scoring Didder to put the home team up 3-2.

Detmers then recorded two more strikeouts in a clean fifth and ended his start with three strikeouts in the sixth to work out of a jam with two runners on base.

In the seventh, Oliver Ortega (S, 3) entered and quickly retired the side in order with a pop up, a ground ball, and a strikeout to finish the save and seal the win for the Trash Pandas.

Detmers (W, 2-2) earned the win in a dominant performance, giving up just two earned runs on three hits with two walks while recording a career-high 14 strikeouts, tying the Trash Pandas single game record set by Cooper Criswell on June 16.

The second game began similarly to the first with Tyler shutting down the Biloxi bats from his first pitch to his last.

For the first five innings, the Shuckers only hit two balls out of the infield as Tyler set down the first 15 batters he faced.

In the fourth, the Trash Pandas broke the scoreless deadlock on an RBI single from Izzy Wilson to score Dalton Pompey. An error allowed Orlando Martinez to score before an RBI double from Didder made it 3-0.

Tyler retired Devanney to start the sixth, but then gave up a single to Brent Diaz to end his bid for a perfect game after 16 straight outs.

The Trash Pandas used the long ball to double their lead in the bottom of the frame. Nay led off with another long solo shot 447 feet to left for his ninth home run of the season. Two hitters later, Ibandel Isabel launched a 423-foot two-run blast inside the left field foul pole for his sixth big fly of the season.

Biloxi got on the board in the seventh on a solo homer from Brice Turang. But Tyler rebounded to induce back-to-back pop outs to finish the victory.

In the first complete game in Trash Pandas history, Tyler gave up just the one run on two hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over 7.0 innings to earn his team-leading fourth win of the season.

Between both games of the doubleheader, the Trash Pandas pitching staff combined to give up just three runs on five hits with two walks and 23 strikeouts. The wins give Rocket City a series victory over Biloxi, four games to two.

The Trash Pandas (22-19) hit the road to begin a six-game series with the Chattanooga Lookouts on Tuesday night. First pitch from AT&T Field is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio.