MADISON, Ala — The struggles of the second half continued for the Trash Pandas Friday evening at Toyota Field as eight Smokies’ walks accounted for only one Rocket City run in a 5-2 win for Tennessee.
Yet again the Smokies struck first in the opening inning. With Rocket City going Johnny Wholestaff for the evening, reliver Mason Erla (L, 1-3) got the opening assignment and surrendered two unearned runs in the first. After third baseman David Merson made a one out throwing error off the bat for third baseman B.J. Murray, designated Jonathan Long drew a walk and rightfielder Felix Steven singled to load the bases.
That set the stage for second baseman Luis Verdugo who singled to score Murray and put Tennessee on the board. First baseman Haydn McGeary followed that with a sac fly to left to put the Smokies up 2-0. Erla would end his night an inning later after allowing two unearned runs on three hits with a strikeout over two innings.
Rocket City responded with a run in the bottom half of the first. With two out, rightfielder Tucker Flint drew a walk, went to second on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI single to right from first baseman Sam Brown to cut the deficit in half. However, despite some early inning struggles from Smokies starter Matthew Thompson (W, 3-6), the Trash Pandas couldn’t muster another run as Thompson allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts despite five walks by the right-hander in five frames.
Tennessee extended its lead with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth against Rocket City reliever Hayden Seig. Catcher Casey Opitz started the fourth with a walk, went to third on a single from centerfielder Parker Chavers, then scored on a sac fly to left from leftfielder Cole Roederer. In the fifth, Long blasted a solo homer, his second in as many nights, to extend the Smokies’ lead to three. Later, Verdugo laced a one out double, then scored on a two-out triple from Opitz to make the score 5-1. Verdugo finished 4-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run.
Rocket City had a chance to rally in the sixth as a single, double and walk loaded the bases with no one out against Tennessee reliever Brad Deppermann. However, designated hitter Matt Coutney struck out looking, and shortstop Denzer Guzman skied into a double play to right thanks to a baserunning gaffe from the Trash Pandas between second and third.
In the ninth, Guzman doubled, went to third on a groundout then scored on an RBI single from Mershon, however third baseman Ben Gobbel followed with a 4-6-3 double play to end the game. The Smokies finished the night with 10 hits. In addition to Verdugo’s work, Chavers went 3-3 with three singles and two stolen bases. Brown two of Rocket City’s six hits with two singles and an RBI.
The Trash Pandas take on the Smokies in game five of their six-game series tomorrow at Toyota Field with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. The Trash Pandas have not named a starter while the Smokies will counter with righty Sean Armstrong (0-2, 3.86 ERA).
