MADISON, Ala. — Three pitchers combined on a seven-inning, no-hitter for the Los Angeles Angels' Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas only to lose 7-5 to the Cincinnati Reds' Chattanooga Lookouts in a doubleheader opener Saturday after wildness caused a seven-run top of the seventh.
Rocket City pitchers walked five, hit four batters and threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the seventh inning and were hurt by a dropped fly ball with the bases loaded on what could have been the final out.
Coleman Crow, a 22-year-old right-hander who was a 28th-round pick in the 2019 amateur draft, left with a 3-0 lead after six innings and 78 pitches. He struck out six and walked two.
Ben Joyce, a third-round draft pick last summer, relieved. The 22-year-old right-hander walked his first two batters, induced a popup and walked a third.
After a strikeout, Joyce (0-1) forced in a run with his fourth walk and got Jose Torres to fly to center. Jeremiah Jackson, a second-round draft pick in 2018, dropped the ball for an error that put the Lookouts ahead 4-3. Jackson, 23, was an infielder before the Angels started giving him outfield time last season.
Eric Torres, a 23-year-old left-hander who was a 14th-round pick in 2021, relieved and hit three straight batters with pitches, the last forcing in a run. Torres forced in another run with a four-pitch walk, then threw a wild pitch that increased the lead to 7-3. He hit another batter before an inning-ending strikeout.
Edgar Quero, a Cuban catching prospect who turned 20 on Thursday, hit a two-run single in the bottom half against Stevie Branche.
Andy Fisher (1-0) struck out two in a perfect sixth. Pedro Garcia relieved with two on and one out in the seventh and struck out Jackson and Tucker Flint for his second save.
In the second game, Rocket City starter Sam Bachman was just as stellar as Crow was in the opener. He retired the Lookouts in order in the first, worked around a leadoff double in the second, struck out the side in the third, then punched out two more in the fourth.
Zach Neto led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk. Orlando Martinez then crushed an opposite-field two-run home run to left, his first home of the season, to put the Trash Pandas in front 2-0.
Bachman ended his night by working around two hit batters in the fifth, finishing the second scoreless start of the day for Rocket City. In five clean innings, Bachman (W, 1-0) allowed just one hit while striking out nine to earn the victory, the second of his professional career.
The Trash Pandas added to the lead in the fifth on Myles Emmerson’s first Double-A hit, an RBI single to right to plate Bryce Teodosio.
Brett Kerry (S, 1) entered from the Rocket City bullpen in the sixth and fired two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. He also got an assist by a leaping catch at the wall from Whitefield, to complete the victory and earn the save, wrapping up the Trash Pandas’ first win of the season.
For the day, the Trash Pandas pitching staff combined to hold Chattanooga hitters to one hit over 14 innings.
The loss with seven runs allowed in the first game of the twin bill marked the second recorded time in professional baseball history a team allowed seven runs in a no-hitter and lost. The only other known occasion came on August 31, 1948, when the Wellsville Red Sox no-hit the Lockport Reds in a 7-3 loss in PONY League play.
After two days off, the Trash Pandas (1-2) hit the road for the first time in 2023 to begin a six-game series with the Birmingham Barons (1-2) on Tuesday night. First pitch from Regions Field is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.