Trash Pandas Drop Slugfest In Pensacola 9-8

The Rocket City Trash Pandas struck first, but a battle of home runs ultimately proved too much to overcome in a 9-8 loss to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the third game of their six-game series on Thursday night at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

Each team homered three times in the game as the Trash Pandas suffered their third straight loss to start a 12-game road trip.

Unlike the first two games of the series, the Trash Pandas got off to a quick start on Thursday night. Following back-to-back singles from Zach Humphreys and Trey Cabbage in the first, Braxton Martinez laced a double into the corner in right field, plating both runners for a 2-0 Rocket City lead off Pensacola starter Will Stewart (W, 1-1). A few batters later, Kevin Maitan’s RBI ground out scored Martinez with the third run of the frame. In the second, the Rocket City lead would increase to 4-0 when Bryce Teodosio led off with a line-drive solo home run to left for his sixth homer of the season.

From, the Blue Wahoos went on a run. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, former Trash Pandas infielder turned the game around on one swing with a game-tying grand slam to left off Rocket City starter Aaron Hernandez, bringing Pensacola even 4-4 after two.

Rocket City nearly restored the lead in the third. However, Teodosio was called on a very close play at home plate when trying to score on Humphreys’ ground ball to second.

A hit-by-pitch and a walk in the fourth ended Hernandez’s night with two on and one out. Kolton Ingram entered and was unable to escape the jam, giving up a three-run homer to catcher Santiago Chavez as Pensacola pulled ahead 7-4 after four. Jerar Encarnacion continued his hot streak for the home team in the fifth with a leadoff solo homer off Ingram, giving him hits in seven straight at-bats as Pensacola doubled the Trash Pandas at 8-4 with eight unanswered runs.

Hernandez (L, 0-2) was charged with six runs against on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 3.1 innings in his second straight loss. Ingram allowed two runs, both on home runs, over 1.2 innings.

Maitan got a run back for the Trash Pandas in the sixth with a solo home run off the right field foul pole, his first Double-A homer, to make it an 8-5 game. Griffin Conine responded with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame for Pensacola off Trash Pandas reliever Sean McLaughlin.

The back-and-forth slugfest continued with a solo home run from Cabbage in the seventh, his Southern League-leading 10th homer of the season. Teodosio then connected on a two-run single in the eighth to make it a one-run game.

In the ninth, Pensacola closer Colton Hock (S, 4) issued a two-out walk to Preston Palmeiro then rebounded to get Orlando Martinez to ground out to finish the win and earn the save. The loss is the Trash Pandas’ third in a row, the longest losing streak of the first 30 games of the season for Rocket City.

Teodosio led the way for the Trash Pandas, going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI while Cabbage was the only other Rocket City starter to record a multi-hit game in a 2-for-5 performance.

The Trash Pandas (18-12) and Blue Wahoos (15-15) meet in the fourth game of their series on Friday night. First pitch at Blue Wahoos stadium is set for 6:35 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio.