MADISON, Ala. — A four-run first inning proved to be enough for the Rocket City Trash Pandas (45-45, 12-10) as they held off the Chattanooga Lookouts (26-65, 6-16) 4-1 in the opener of a six-game series Tuesday evening at Toyota Field.
Three consecutive walks to start the first inning allowed Rocket City to load the bases. Designated hitter Gustavo Campero would score on a wild pitch and outfielder Tucker Flint drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to give the Trash Pandas an early 2-0 lead.
Later in the inning, the bats started rolling on back-to-back run-scoring singles from infielder Denzer Guzman and outfielder Nelson Rada to make it a 4-0 Trash Pandas lead after the first. Chattanooga went to the bullpen after the hit from Rada, ending the day for starting pitcher Kevin Abel (L, 4-4) before the end of the first.
From there, the Lookouts bullpen was stellar, firing 7.1 shutout innings on two hits while striking out 13 Trash Pandas.
Chattanooga’s lone run came in the fourth after infielder Ruben Ibarra delivered a solo home run to cut the Trash Pandas lead to three.
That was the only blemish for Trash Pandas starting pitcher Chase Chaney (W, 6-6) who locked the Lookouts down from there with seven punchouts in 5.2 innings. Relievers Eric Torres (H, 3), Hayden Seig (H, 5) and Camden Minacci (S, 5) allowed just one hit and struck out a combined five batters over the final 3.1 frames.
Rocket City will look for back-to-back victories against the Lookouts on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6:35 CT.
