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 (20-17) BILOXI SHUCKERS (13-25) 3rd PLACE, DOUBLE-A SOUTH (NORTH) VS 4th PLACE, DOUBLE-A SOUTH (SOUTH) LHP JHONATHAN DIAZ (1-0, 1.93) RHP JESUS CASTILLO (0-1, 7.71) TOYOTA FIELD - MADISON, AL - THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021 - 6:35 PM CT GAME 38 | HOME GAME 20 | TODAY’S BROADCASTS ONLINE MiLB TV RADIO SPORTSRADIO 730 AM/103.9 FM THE UMP TV WAAY 31.6 UPCOMING STARTERS ROCKET CITY STATS Overall Record ....................... 20-17 DATE TIME (CT) OPPONENT TRASH PANDAS STARTER OPPONENT STARTER Home Record ......................... 12-7 Friday, June 18 6:35 PM vs. Biloxi RHP Aaron Hernandez (1-0, 3.60) LHP Ethan Small (1-2, 2.36) Road Record ........................... 8-10 Saturday, June 19 6:35 PM vs. Biloxi LHP Reid Detmers (1-2, 3.41) RHP Noah Zavolas (2-3, 6.97) vs. North Division .................. 17-12 Sunday, June 20 2:35 PM vs. Biloxi RHP Kyle Tyler (3-1, 2.08) TBA vs. South Division .................. 3-5 vs RHP .......................................... 14-10 LAST TIME OUT: Starting right-hander Cooper Criswell struck out a career-high 14 batters while tossing 6.2 shutout innings, vs LHP .......................................... 6-7 Night ............................................ 19-13 and the batters provided three solo homers to give the Trash Pandas a 3-0 win over the Shuckers Wednesday night. The Day ................................................. 1-4 14 strikeouts set a new season-high for Rocket City pitchers in a game. Left fielder Dalton Pompey smacked a first-inning Last 10 .......................................... 8-2 Streak ........................................... W2 dinger for the second time in as many nights, catcher Michael Cruz followed in the fifth, and center fielder Orlando Martinez 1-Run Games ........................... 4-5 capped the scoring with a round-tripper in the sixth. After Criswell, reliever Adrian Almeida got the final out of the seventh Home Attendance ................ 108,114 and closer Nathan Bates tossed the final two shutout innings with two strikeouts to end the game. The 16 strikeouts for Home Avg. Attendance .... 6,006 Season Sellouts ...................... 2 Rocket City tied a season-high for the Trash Pandas in a game. In addition to his homer, Cruz had two of the seven Trash Pandas hits with a single as well. TEAM STATS BASEBALL RETURNS: The Rocket City home opener on May 11 marked the first professional baseball game in North Al- Batting Average .................... .241 abama since May 25, 2015, when the Biloxi Shuckers temporarily called Joe Davis Stadium home while their new stadium Hits .................................................. 294 Runs ............................................... 169 was being built. That day, the Shuckers beat the Birmingham Barons 7-2. Previously, the Huntsville Stars called Joe Davis Runs/Game .............................. 4.6 Stadium home from 1985-2014 and finished with an overall record of 2,112-2,099 (.502). The Trash Pandas were originally Doubles ...................................... 46 scheduled to begin play in April 2020, but the season was canceled due to the pandemic. May 11 was also 978 days since Triples ............................................ 5 Home Runs ............................... 57 the name Rocket City Trash Pandas was name was unveiled to the public on September 5, 2018. RBI ................ ................................... 151 Stolen Bases ............................. 27 Team ERA ................................... 3.94 READY FOR LAUNCH: The Trash Pandas have lived up to the Rocket City nickname by launching 57 homers, which leads Innings Pitched ..................... 322.1 Double-A South and is second in all of Double-A. 12 of those dingers came in the first Tennessee series, including two Hits Allowed .............................. 295 grand slams in the series finale on 5/16. Outfielder Izzy Wilson leads the way with 11, which is a league lead and is tied for Strikeouts ................................... 380 the lead in all of Double-A. TRASH PANDAS LEADERS Games ......................................... 2 Tied, 35 PANDAS POUNCE AT HOME: Toyota Field has become quite the launching pad for the Trash Pandas in the early going. Batting Average ..................... MacKinnon, .287 At-Bats .......................................... Martinez, 140 Of the 57 homers hit on season, Rocket City has blasted 36 of them at home. After hitting 12 in the first series against Runs .............................................. 2 Tied, 20 Tennessee, the Trash Pandas hit 18 dingers during an 11-game homestand against Chattanooga and Birmingham. In fact, Hits ................................................. Martinez, 38 the home team had at least one homer in 10 of the 11 games. Doubles ....................................... 2 Tied, 8 Triples ............................................ Didder, 4 Home Runs ............................... Wilson, 11 IZZY BEEN BUSY: Since turning the calendar to June, outfielder Izzy Wilson has been hitting out of his mind going 16-36 RBI ................................................... 2 Tied, 23 Stolen Bases ............................. Wilson, 9 (.444) with six homers and 14 RBI. The first homerun was especially memorable as he launched a three-run blast off Chatta- Walks ............................................ Nay, 18 nooga starting pitcher Hunter Greene, one of the top prospects in all of MILB, on 6/4. The following week, Wilson had a night On-Base % ................................ MacKinnon, .381 to remember as he went 4-4 with two singles, two homers, two runs scored and two stolen bases on 6/10 against Tennessee. Slugging % ............................... Wilson, .550 Innings Pitched ..................... Tyler, 39.0 Izzy currently leads the Trash Pandas and it tied-for-first in Double-A South with 11 dingers. In addition, Wilson stole four Wins .............................................. 2 Tied, 3 bases in the Tennessee series that began on 6/8. He currently has nine steals in 12 attempts, which leads Double-A South. ERA ................................................ Tyler, 2.08 Strikeouts ................................... Criswell, 52 Saves .............................................. Higgins, 5 TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER: Left-hander Jhonathan Diaz will make his first start since 5/20 when he toes the rubber against Biloxi. Diaz had pitched the last month with the Venezuelan National Team in the qualifiers for the 2021 Tokyo vs DOUBLE-A SOUTH Olympics. He went 1-1 with them and a 0.00 ERA after allowing three unearned runs in 3.1 innings. Diaz came out of the OVERALL HOME ROAD pen in his first two games with Rocket City before striking out 11 batters over 5.2 shutout innings on 5/13 in a win over Ten- BUFFALOBIRMINGHAM 2- 4 2- 4 0--0 nessee. He then allowed a run on four hits in a no-decision the following week against Pensacola, which was the last time COLUMBUSCHATTANOOGA 51-16 3-- 2 21-14 the Trash Pandas saw him before going to the Olympic Qualifiers. Diaz rejoined the Trash Pandas on 6/12 and fired three DURHAMTENNESSEE 105--62 55--41 05--21 scoreless innings of relief against Tennessee. He did not receive a decision, but Rocket City won 6-4. He is 1-0 on the year GWINNETTNORTH DIVISION 1710--125 105--37 57-25 with a 1.93 ERA having allowed four ER over 18.2 innings with 24 strikeouts. A native of Valencia, 2021 is Diaz’s first season INDIANAPOLIS 3-7 1-2 2-5 with the Angels after spending the previous five seasons in the Red Sox system where he went 36-29 with a 3.33 ERA and LEHIGHMISSISSIPPI VALLEY (NOT ON2- 12021 SCHEDULE2-1 - ) an opponents’ .242 batting average. LOUISVILLEBILOXI 62-30 25-01 01--20 NORFOLKMONTGOMERY 70--40 30--00 40--40 PROSPECT RANKINGS: The Trash Pandas' current roster features five of the Angels’ Top 30 prospects (according to MLB. PAWTUCKETPENSACOLA 1-5 0- 0 1-5 com): left-handed pitcher Reid Detmers (Angels’ No. 2, No. 60 in all of baseball), right-handed pitcher Oliver Ortega (No. ROCHESTERSOUTH DIVISION 3-33-5 3-02-0 0-31-5 15), outfielder Orlando Martinez (No. 17), right-handed pitcher Aaron Hernandez (No. 23), and right-handed pitcher Denny SCRANTON/WB - - - Brady (No. 28). SYRACUSE 3-3 2-1 1-2 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 to the character- istics of the area: (Alphabetically) Army Ants, Comet Jockeys, GloWorms, Lunartics, Moon Possums, Puffy Head Bird Legs, Space Chimps, Space Sloths, ThunderSharks and Trash Pan- das. The focus groups were led by San Diego-based Brandiose, the Minor League Baseball industry's premiere branding partner. Over the next few weeks, two rounds of