GAME NOTES DOUBLE-A AFFILIATE OF THE LOS ANGELES ANGELS DIRECTOR OF BROADCASTING AND BASEBALL INFORMATION: JOSH CARAY - [email protected] MEDIA RELATIONS COORDINATOR: AARON CHERIS - [email protected] ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS (14-16) TENNESSEE SMOKIES (10-19) 3rd PLACE, DOUBLE-A SOUTH (NORTH) AT 4th PLACE, DOUBLE-A SOUTH (NORTH) RHP DENNY BRADY (0-1, 3.52) LHP LUIS LUGO (0-3, 9.19) SMOKIES STADIUM - KODAK, TN - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021 - 6:00 PM CT GAME 32 | ROAD GAME 14 | TODAY’S BROADCASTS ONLINE MiLB TV RADIO SPORTSRADIO 730 AM/103.9 FM THE UMP UPCOMING STARTERS ROCKET CITY STATS Overall Record ....................... 14-16 DATE TIME (CT) OPPONENT TRASH PANDAS STARTER OPPONENT STARTER Home Record ......................... 10-7 Thursday, June 10 6:00 PM @ Tennessee RHP Cooper Criswell (2-3, 4.00) RHP Peyton Remy (0-1, 0.00) Road Record ........................... 4-9 Friday, June 11 6:00 PM @ Tennessee RHP Aaron Hernandez (AA Debut) RHP Cam Sanders (0-1, 4.40) vs. North Division .................. 13-11 Saturday, June 12 6:00 PM @ Tennessee LHP Reid Detmers (1-2, 3.60) RHP Erich Uelman (0-3, 5.06) vs. South Division .................. 1-5 vs RHP .......................................... 10-9 LAST TIME OUT: Rocket City clocked three homers and received 3.1 perfect innings of relief from Tyler Danish in an 8-7 victory vs LHP .......................................... 4-7 Night ............................................ 13-13 over the Tennessee Smokies. The Trash Pandas pounded out 14 hits as the top third of the lineup, shortstop Gavin Cecchini, Day ................................................. 1-4 designated hitter Dalton Pompey, and leftfielder Orlando Martinez combined to go 8-14 with two homers, a triple, three RBI Last 10 .......................................... 5-5 Streak ........................................... W2 and six runs scored. Cecchini ripped a solo-homer and scored twice, Pompey tripled, hit a two-run dinger and scored three 1-Run Games ........................... 3-5 times, and Martinez lashed three singles and scored a run. First-baseman David MacKinnon doubled and drove in two-run Home Attendance ................ 98,336 while catcher Matt Jones launched a solo-homerun in the second. Rightfielder Izzy Wilson brought in the game-winning Home Avg. Attendance .... 6,146 Season Sellouts ...................... 2 run on an RBI double in the ninth. Danish relieved starter Kyle Tyler with two out in the fourth and retired all 10 hitters he faced with three strikeouts to notch the win. Closer Keith Rogalla picked up his second save despite giving up two runs in the ninth. Rocket City moved to 6-1 on the year against the Smokies. TEAM STATS Batting Average .................... .235 BASEBALL RETURNS: The Rocket City home opener on May 11 marked the first professional baseball game in North Alabama Hits .................................................. 233 Runs ............................................... 129 since May 25, 2015, when the Biloxi Shuckers temporarily called Joe Davis Stadium home while their new stadium was being Runs/Game .............................. 4.3 built. That day, the Shuckers beat the Birmingham Barons 7-2. Previously, the Huntsville Stars called Joe Davis Stadium home Doubles ...................................... 33 from 1985-2014 and finished with an overall record of 2,112-2,099 (.502). The Trash Pandas were originally scheduled to begin Triples ............................................ 3 Home Runs ............................... 43 play in April 2020, but the season was canceled due to the pandemic. May 11 was also 978 days since the name Rocket City RBI ................ ................................... 126 Trash Pandas was name was unveiled to the public on September 5, 2018. Stolen Bases ............................. 19 Team ERA ................................... 3.87 Innings Pitched ..................... 260.1 GETTING K’S: Rocket City pitchers are racking up the strikeouts against opposing hitters whiffing 300 batters through the Hits Allowed .............................. 241 first 30 games. That is good enough for fourth in Double-A South. The most the Trash Pandas have struck out in a game Strikeouts ................................... 300 was 5/11 when they K’d 16 Smokies in a 10-inning loss. The also struck out 15 Smokies in a shutout win on 5/13, 15 more against TRASH PANDAS LEADERS Birmingham on 5/25, and another 15 against Chattanooga on 6/5. Games ......................................... 3 Tied, 28 Batting Average ..................... Stefanic, .345 At-Bats .......................................... Martinez, 118 READY FOR LAUNCH: The Trash Pandas have lived up to the Rocket City nickname by launching 43 homers, good enough Runs .............................................. Martinez, 17 to take the Double-A South lead after a three-homer performance last night, with Birmingham close behind at 42 home Hits ................................................. Martinez, 33 runs. 12 of those dingers came in the first Tennessee series, including two grand slams in the series finale on 5/16. Outfielder Doubles ....................................... Martinez, 7 Triples ............................................ Didder, 3 Izzy Wilson leads the way with seven, with fellow outfielder Orlando Martinez right behind him at six. Three of the five from Home Runs ............................... Wilson, 7 Martinez came on 5/7 in a 12-10 win at Chattanooga. The 43 home runs rank second in all of Double-A, behind only Northwest RBI ................................................... Martinez, 19 Stolen Bases ............................. Didder, 6 Arkansas in the Double-A Central league. Walks ............................................ Nay, 15 On-Base % ................................ Stefanic, .406 K’s DE’K’LINING: After leading Double-A South for much of the year in strikeouts, along with all of Double-A briefly, the Slugging % ............................... Martinez, .492 Innings Pitched ..................... Tyler, 33.0 Rocket City hitters have done a better job of putting the ball in play. Over their last seven games, the Trash Pandas have Wins .............................................. Tyler, 3 struck out 10 times or less in the six of the contests. The total is still high as 318 is tied for second in Double-A South, however ERA ................................................ Tyler, 2.45 they have dropped out of the top five in strikeouts for all of Double-A. The only game in which Rocket City did hit double Strikeouts ................................... Detmers, 40 Saves .............................................. Higgins, 3 digits in strikeouts was on 6/5 when superstar Hunter Greene of Chattanooga K’d 10 Trash Pandas in 6.2 innings. vs DOUBLE-A SOUTH Designated hitter Ibandel Isabel got off to a rough start beginning the season 1-29 (.034). Since 5/16 though, HEATING UP: OVERALL HOME ROAD the Dominican native is 17-57 (.298), with three homers and 10 RBI. The first two home runs were especially memorable. On BUFFALOBIRMINGHAM 2- 4 2- 4 0--0 5/16, he launched the first grand slam in Trash Pandas history with a second-inning blast against Tennessee. On 5/27 against COLUMBUSCHATTANOOGA 51-16 3-- 2 21-14 Birmingham, Ibandel settled for a more-modest solo homerun except the ball went 456 feet with a 116 velocity. The ball cleared DURHAMTENNESSEE 56--61 55--41 01--02 the property line fence that encircles Toyota Field and is to-date the longest dinger in Trash Pandas and Toyota Field history. GWINNETTNORTH DIVISION 1013-115 105--37 53-24 INDIANAPOLIS 3-7 1-2 2-5 TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER: Righty Denny Brady will take the hill for Rocket City this evening. He will make his fourth LEHIGHMISSISSIPPI VALLEY (NOT ON2- 12021 SCHEDULE2-1 - ) start as he continues to get better with each outing. At 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA, Brady put together his best outing on 6/3 in game LOUISVILLEBILOXI 60-30 05-01 01--20 one of a doubleheader against Chattanooga. Though he allowed six hits, he only gave up one run while walking one and NORFOLKMONTGOMERY 70--40 30--00 40--40 striking out four in a no-decision. For the season, he has allowed three ER on seven hits with six walks and nine strikeouts in PAWTUCKETPENSACOLA 1-5 0- 0 1-5 7.2 innings. Rated the #28 prospect in the Angels system according to MLB.com, Brady only went 3-9 in 2019 but registered ROCHESTERSOUTH DIVISION 3-31-5 3-00-0 0-31-5 a solid 3.64 ERA in 17 games (10 starts) with 86 strikeouts in 76.2 innings at high-A Inland Empire. A 7th round draft pick SCRANTON/WB - - - out of Mercer Community College in New Jersey, Brady features a low-90s fastball with a sharp curve. Has been used in the SYRACUSE 3-3 2-1 1-2 rotation and pen starting 27 of 47 career games. TOLEDO 4-2 2-1 2-1 WHAT IS A TRASH PANDA? The name was chosen in a name-the-team contest and is a reference to the area's association with the space industry and the determination and ingenuity of raccoons, aka trash pandas. Trash Pandas, slang for raccoon, was included in the original 10 nominations following several Brandiose-led focus groups in Madison and Huntsville. The ballot descriptor read: Our community is known for engineering, and no creature in our galaxy is as smart, creative, determined and ingenious a problem solver - dedicated to the challenge at hand - as our local raccoons! In July 2018, after the results from several focus groups in Madison and Huntsville,10 names were selected, based on their uniqueness and how each name relates