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 (50-48) BILOXI SHUCKERS (37-63) 2nd PLACE, DOUBLE-A SOUTH (NORTH) AT 4th PLACE, DOUBLE-A SOUTH (SOUTH) RHP CRISTOPHER MOLINA (4-1, 1.99) RHP JUSTIN BULLOCK (2-3, 7.17) MGM PARK - BILOXI, MS - SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2021 - 5:05 PM CT GAME 99 | ROAD GAME 53 | TODAY’S BROADCASTS ONLINE MiLB TV RADIO SPORTSRADIO 730 AM/103.9 FM THE UMP UPCOMING STARTERS ROCKET CITY STATS DATE TIME (CT) OPPONENT TRASH PANDAS STARTER OPPONENT STARTER Overall Record ....................... 50-48 Home Record ......................... 26-20 Sunday, August 29 5:05 PM @ Biloxi Shuckers TBA TBA Road Record ........................... 24-28 Monday, August 30 OFF vs. North Division .................. 41-36 Tuesday, August 31 4:05 PM vs Tennessee Smokies Resumption of Suspended Game From 7/25 (B2, 1-0 Smokies) vs. South Division .................. 9-12 vs RHP .......................................... 39-35 LAST TIME OUT: Starting right-hander Janson Junk tossed eight perfect innings as Rocket City defeated Biloxi 4-3 Satur- vs LHP .......................................... 11-13 Night ............................................ 44-42 day evening. Junk was three outs away from a perfect game before allowing a leadoff single to Tristan Lutz in the ninth to Day ................................................. 6-6 break up the perfect game and no-hitter. Later in the inning, he allowed a two-out, three-run homer to Korry Howell which Last 10 .......................................... 5-5 pulled the Shuckers to within one and ended Janson’s night. However, closer Kolton Ingram picked up the save by striking Streak ........................................... W1 out David Fry with the tying run at first to end the game. Janson wound up going 8.2 innings and allowing three runs on 1-Run Games ........................... 14-12 Home Attendance ................ 243,468 two hits with a walk and eight strikeouts to get the win. Rocket City scored two in the third to take the lead. Leftfielder Home Avg. Attendance .... 5,797 Luis Aviles Jr. reached first on a throwing error from Howell to leadoff the inning. The next batter, Ray-Patrick Didder, then Season Sellouts ...................... 6 ripped an RBI triple. Didder would score on a groundout to second from the next batter, Orlando Martinez. The Trash Pandas added key insurance runs in the eighth and ninth. In the eighth, Aviles singled, went to second on a groundout, stole third, then scored with two out on a passed ball by Fry. In the ninth, Mitch Nay singled, advanced to second and third TEAM STATS on wild pitches, then scored on a one-out RBI single from Anthony Mulrine to put Rocket City up 4-0. Batting Average .................... .242 Hits .................................................. 771 Runs ............................................... 482 4x4: No matter what is said of the 2021 Rocket City Trash Pandas, never say they were inconsistent as the team has worked Runs/Game .............................. 4.9 in a 4x4 philosophy. The team has never been more than four games below or above .500 for the first 98 games of the year. Doubles ...................................... 155 Triples ............................................ 11 BILOXI BLUES: Currently, the Trash Pandas have the most homers in AA-South and the second-most in AA. They led all Home Runs ............................... 146 RBI ................ ................................... 449 of AA until this series as Rocket City has failed to garner a four-bagger through the first four games against Shuckers. The Stolen Bases ............................. 77 four games is the longest Rocket City has gone without a homer this season. Strangely enough, Biloxi has allowed the Team ERA ................................... 4.84 most homers of any club in AA-South with 135. Innings Pitched ..................... 829.0 Hits Allowed .............................. 830 Strikeouts ................................... 1,005 GETTING K’S: The pitchers are racking up the strikeouts against opposing hitters whiffing 1,005 batters through the first 98 games. That is good enough for first in AA-South. The most the Trash Pandas have struck out in a game was 19, which TRASH PANDAS LEADERS happened on 6/26 against Chattanooga when former starting pitcher Reid Detmers set a new season-high for Rocket City Games ......................................... Nay, 94 pitchers with 16Ks followed by reliever Ryan Clark who punched out three more Lookouts. Twice the Trash Pandas have Batting Average ..................... MacKinnon, .288 struck out 16 batters. First on 5/11 when they K’d 16 Smokies in a 10-inning loss, then on 6/16 when they shutout Biloxi. They At-Bats .......................................... Martinez, 355 also struck out 15 Smokies in a shutout win on 5/13, 15 more against Birmingham on 5/25, another 15 against Chattanooga Runs .............................................. Nay, 57 Hits ................................................. 2 Tied, 93 on 6/5, then 15 more on 7/22 against Tennessee. Detmers still leads the way with 97K’s after his 16-strikeout performance. Doubles ....................................... MacKinnon, 29 Janson Junk got strikeout number 1,000 as part of his bid for perfection with eight strikeouts over eight perfect innings Triples ............................................ Didder, 5 on 8/27 at Biloxi. Home Runs ............................... Nay, 22 RBI ................................................... MacKinnon, 56 Stolen Bases ............................. Wilson, 25 READY FOR LAUNCH: The Trash Pandas have lived up to the Rocket City moniker by launching 146 homers, which is tops Walks ............................................ Nay, 51 in AA-South and all of AA. 13 of those dingers came in the 7/20-7/26 series against Tennessee, which is the most in any On-Base % ................................ MacKinnon, .382 series this season. Earlier in the year, Rocket City lifted 12 longballs against the Smokies in the 5/11-5/16 series, including Slugging % ............................... Nay, .495 two grand slams in the series finale on 5/16. Another 12 came in the series against Montgomery (7/6-7/10) with six provided Innings Pitched ..................... Tyler, 72.0 Wins .............................................. Criswell, 6 by infielder Luis Aviles Jr. Rocket City also hit 12 during the Chattanooga series 8/17-8/22. Third baseman Mitch Nay leads ERA ................................................ Tyler, 3.38 with way with 22, which is first in AA-South, with rightfielder Izzy Wilson sitting in second at 21. In fact, the Trash Pandas Strikeouts ................................... Detmers, 97 possess four of the top 10 homerun hitters in AA-South on the team. Luis Aviles Jr. is tied for seventh with 15 dingers along Saves .............................................. Higgins, 8 with Orlando Martinez. vs DOUBLE-A SOUTH HR = RBI: Because of all the homeruns the Trash Pandas have hit, it also leads to representation in the RBI column. Cur- OVERALL HOME ROAD rently, Rocket City has four players in the top 10 of RBI in AA-South. First baseman David MacKinnon leads the with 56 BUFFALOBIRMINGHAM 8--10 5- 7 3--3 RBI while rightfielder Izzy Wilson sits in a tie for third at 53. After that, third baseman Mitch Nay and outfielder Orlando COLUMBUSCHATTANOOGA 161-114 7-- 5 91-19 Martinez are tied for seventh with 49. DURHAMTENNESSEE 175--612 58--43 09-29 GWINNETTNORTH DIVISION 4110--365 205--315 215--221 PROSPECT RANKINGS: The Trash Pandas' current roster features six of the Angels’ Top 30 prospects (according to MLB. INDIANAPOLIS 3-7 1-2 2-5 com): shortstop Livan Soto (No. 13), right-handed pitcher Robinson Pina (No. 21), right-handed pitcher Davis Daniel (No. 22), LEHIGHMISSISSIPPI VALLEY (NOT ON2- 12021 SCHEDULE2-1 - ) right-handed pitcher Janson Junk (No. 23), outfielder Orlando Martinez (No. 27), and left-handed pitcher Ryan Smith (No. 28). LOUISVILLEBILOXI 6-34 45-12 21--22 TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER: Right-hander Cristopher Molina will take the hill today for Rocket City. Molina is 4-1 with NORFOLKMONTGOMERY 72--43 32--03 40--40 a 1.99 ERA since coming to Rocket City last month. He has been especially strong over his last three outings, going 3-0 PAWTUCKETPENSACOLA 1-5 0- 0 1-5 with a 0.57 ERA (1ER over 15.2 innings) with opponents hitting .188 against him. While at Tri-City, Molina went 4-2 with a ROCHESTERSOUTH DIVISION 93-3-12 3-06-5 0-33-7 3.27 ERA, primarily as a reliever appearing in 19 games with only two starts. 2021 is Molina’s seventh season in the Angels SCRANTON/WB - - - organization. The 2.88 ERA he has posted between Rocket City and Tri-City is easily the best he has garnered in his career. SYRACUSE 3-3 2-1 1-2 He was signed in 2013 as a free agent. 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