Rocket City Trash Pandas win final three games of Barons series
The Rocket City Trash Pandas closed out a home series with the Birmingham Barons with an 11-10 walk-off victory on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Field.
As of Sunday, May 21, the Trash Pandas (20-19) sit 1.5 games back of the Southern League North leader Tennessee Smokies (21-17).
The Chattanooga Lookouts (19-19) come in at third in the SLN 2 games back, while the Barons (13-26) continue to toil 8.5 games behind in fourth place.
Game 1: May 16: Rocket City 8, Birmingham 6
The Trash Pandas carried momentum from the end of the Biloxi series the week before into a Tuesday victory over the Barons.
Birmingham took the 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning only to see it disappear as Rocket City scored one in the first, two in the second and two more in the bottom of the third to hold a 5-2 advantage.
The Trash Pandas tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth to lead by four runs at 6-2, but it was short-lived as the Barons put together a 2-run rally in the top of the sixth inning to change the scoreboard to 6-4 Rocket City.
The team from Madison promptly answered in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runs of its own to expand the Trash Panda edge to 8-4.
Birmingham mounted a ninth inning comeback with two more runs late, but it fell a few runs short in the end.
Game 2: May 17: Birmingham 3, Rocket City 2
The Barons had the last laugh on Wednesday with a 1-run victory on the road.
Rocket City jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the bottom of the second inning, but Birmingham broke through with a run in the top of the fourth and two more in the fifth to go ahead 3-2.
Game 3: May 18: Birmingham 6, Rocket City 0
Birmingham blanked the Trash Pandas to win its second straight of the series.
Rocket City recorded six errors in the loss.
Game 4: May 19: Rocket City 6, Birmingham 1
The Trash Pandas bounced back on Friday night with a 5-run victory.
Rocket City was led by third baseman Jeremiah Jackson who went 2 for 4 with an RBI.
Birmingham took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, but had it snatched away in the bottom of the third with the Trash Pandas blew the doors open on the game with five runs to lead 5-1.
Rocket City gave itself a little bit more insurance with a solo run in the bottom of the sixth before the fireworks lit up the sky after the game.
Game 5: May 20: Rocket City 5, Birmingham 1
Jack Kochanowicz’s complete game outing where he allowed just one run on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts lifted the Trash Pandas over the Barons on Saturday.
Three runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the bottom of the sixth would be more than enough for Rocket City to best Birmingham.
Game 6: May 21: Rocket City 11, Birmingham 10
The series finale came down to the wire with the Barons holding a 10-9 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
The Trash Pandas knotted the game at 10-10 when Orlando Martinez cracked a solo home run over the fence in right.
A walk-off double by Tucker Flint gave Rocket City the narrow victory and its third straight.
The Trash Pandas play host to the Chattanooga Lookouts this week with games Tuesday through Sunday with first pitch each night slated for 6:35 p.m. at Toyota Field.
