Trash Pandas End Road Schedule With 9-2 Defeat

The Rocket City Trash Pandas ended the final road trip of their inaugural season with a 9-2 loss to the Birmingham Barons on Sunday afternoon in the finale of their six-game series at Regions Field.

The loss is the Trash Pandas’ seventh in a row and puts Rocket City (53-55) on the brink of elimination, as they trail the Barons (62-52) by six games for Double-A South’s final playoff spot with six games remaining in the regular season.

Making his second Double-A start in just his third professional game, Rocket City starter Chase Silseth struggled from the outset. A single and an error put two on to start the bottom of the first, and Birmingham catcher Carlos Perez put the home team on the board with a long three-run homer to left. A sacrifice fly from Xavier Fernandez and an RBI single from Ian Dawkins increased the lead to 5-0 Birmingham after one.

Silseth only recorded one out, giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits before Nathan Bates entered from the bullpen. Bates got through the first but allowed another home run by Perez in the second to make it 6-0 Birmingham.

Looking to get back in the game, the Trash Pandas loaded the bases with one out in the third. But Birmingham reliever Jake Elliott struck out Mitch Nay and Orlando Martinez, both looking, to keep Rocket City off the board.

The fourth inning was déjà vu all over again for Rocket City. A walk, hit-by-pitch, and a single loaded the bases with one out. Elliott got through the jam for the second straight inning by striking out Carson Matthews and inducing a ground out from Livan Soto to end the frame.

Bates gave up one run over 1.2 innings of relief while striking out three Barons. Also making his second Double-A appearance, Houston Harding gave up one run over two relief innings. Zach Linginfelter and Kolton Ingram each pitched a scoreless inning to keep the score at 7-0.

Rocket City finally got on the board in the seventh on an RBI double off the center field wall from Mitch Nay and an RBI ground out from Orlando Martinez to make it a five-run game.

The Barons got the runs right back off Adrian Almeida in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single to center from Dawkins.

Kieran Lovegrove tossed a scoreless eighth to end the game on the mound for the visitors.

At the plate, Torii Hunter Jr. went 2-for-3 with a double while Soto extended his hitting streak to five games in a 2-for-3 performance of his own as the Trash Pandas were swept in a series for the first time in franchise history.

The Trash Pandas return home to begin the final series of the regular season against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (56-53) on Tuesday night. First pitch at Toyota Field is set 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 locally on WAAY-31.6, This TV.