CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Starting pitcher George Klassen (W, 2-3) fired six innings of no-hit ball while striking out a career-high 12 batters on a single walk as Rocket City cruised to an 8-0 win over Chattanooga Saturday night at AT&T Field. Trash Pandas hurlers came within three outs of the third no-hitter in franchise history before a leadoff single in the ninth from Lookouts catcher Daniel Vellojin foiled the bid.
The Trash Pandas started their scoring in the first inning. Designated hitter Christian Moore, playing in his first game since August 30th, blooped a one out single to right. He scored when the next hitter, leftfielder Orlando Martinez, roped an RBI double off the rightfield wall to put Rocket City in the lead. Martinez went to third on the throw to plate, then scored on a groundout to short from first baseman Sam Brown.
Rocket City added two more in the second as two walks and a single by third baseman Ben Gobbel loaded the bases for Moore who ripped a two-run single to left to make the score 4-0. It was Moore’s first RBI since August 29th.
The visitors put the game away with three more in the fourth. A single from centerfielder Nelson Rada, and a double by second baseman David Mershon put runners at second and third when Moore came through again with a two-run double to center giving him four RBI for the game. After another single from Martinez moved him to third, Moore scored on a sac fly to center off the bat of Brown to increase the lead to 7-0.
The Trash Pandas plated their final run in the eighth. Gobbel singled, went to second on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on a walk, then touched home on another sacrifice fly to center this time off the bat of Martinez. Rocket City finished with 11 hits, giving them 41 over their last four games. Moore led the way by going 3-4 with a double, two singles, two runs and four RBI. Martinez chipped in by finishing 3-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Gobbel finished 2-4 with two singles and two runs as well.
But the story of the game was Klassen who struck out the side in the first, then went on to K two men in each of the next four frames. His only blemish was a walk to centerfielder Justice Thompson on a 3-2 pitch to begin the sixth.
After him, relievers Brady Choban and Carlos Espinosa fired 1-2-3 innings to put Rocket City three outs away from a no-hitter with Choban striking out two. However, Luke Murphy came on in the ninth and gave up a soft rolling single by Vellojin to end that hope. Murphy would struck out the next two men before shortstop Dominic Pitelli lined a double to right. The Vanderbilt alum would settle down and strike out first baseman Ruben Ibarra swinging to end the game and give Rocket City pitchers 17 strikeouts for the game. The loss fell to Chattanooga starter Thomas Farr (L, 1-17) who allowed seven runs on nine hits over three-plus innings.
The Trash Pandas will face the Lookouts in the 2024 season finale Sunday.
