MADISON — “Sometimes you win (by throwing a one-hitter).
“Sometimes you lose (by throwing a no-hitter).
“Sometimes it rains (a lot).
“Sometimes all of those things inexplicably happen on the same day.”
Paraphrasing Crash Davis’s talk with Nuke LaLoosh in “Bull Durham,” the Rocket City Trash Pandas social media crew couldn’t have put it any better.
What happened Saturday evening at Toyota Field was an unforgettable and equally historic night for the nearly 5,000 fans on hand.
How historic?
The game was reported on ESPN, CNN, Yahoo! Sports and CBS Sports and in such publications as The Athletic, The Washington Post and even the New York Post.
The Trash Pandas pitched Minor League Baseball’s first no-hitter of the season and the second no-hitter in team history. But, that wasn’t the big story.
They lost the game 7-5.
How? Well, follow along.
In the fifth inning, Kyren Paris hit the Trash Pandas’ first home run of the young season – a three-run blast for a 3-0 lead in the first game of a doubleheader. The game was a makeup of Friday’s rainout.
The Trash Pandas carried that lead and a no-hitter by Coleman Crow through six innings. In the seventh inning, reliever Ben Joyce walked the first two batters before coaxing a pop out to second base. Then he gave up another walk to load the bases but struck out the fifth batter of the inning for two outs.
Then the unraveling really began. Joyce’s fourth walk of the inning forced in a run and cut Rocket City’s lead to 3-1.
After that, Chattanooga’s Jose Torres hit a fly ball to centerfield; Jeremiah Jackson moved back and got under the ball – and missed it. All three baserunners scored and Chattanooga went up 4-3.
So, Manager Andy Schatzley called in Eric Torres, the 2022 Southern League Reliever of the Year, to put out the fire.
However, Torres proceeded to hit four hit batters and a walk another for three more Chattanooga runs and 7-3 lead.
The Trash Pandas scored two runs on Edgar Quero’s single in the bottom of the inning but that was it.
In the fifth inning, Kyren Paris hit the Trash Pandas’ first home run of the young season – a three-run blast for the 3-0 lead.
Rocket City came back in the second game, again with stellar starting pitching, to take a 3-0 win in a one-hitter. Sam Bachman allowed just one hit while striking out nine in five innings to earn the victory;Â Brett Kerry had four strikeouts in picking up the two-inning save.
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