MADISON, Ala. - The Pensacola Blue Wahoos fell to the Rocket City Trash Pandas in a marathon game by a final score of 16-6 on Thursday night.
The Wahoos started off hot. Cam Cannarella, Cristian Hernández, and Fenwick Trimble all reached in the first inning to load the bases for new-comer Brandon Compton. And Compton delivered by crushing an opposite field grand slam to give Pensacola a quick 4-0 lead. It was the second grand slam of the season for the Blue Wahoos and the second grand slam of Compton’s career.
After the first inning was played, the game would go into a rain delay that would last one hour and 43 minutes before the game would resume again. Once the field was ready for action, Rocket City grabbed two of those runs back on an RBI single from David Calebrese and a run-scoring single from Nick Rodriguez. That made the score 4-2.
The Wahoos extended their lead in the 4th when Cristian Hernández hammered a 2-run homer, his second straight game with a longball, to bring the lead back to four and the score to 6-2. This would be the last of the Pensacola offense for the night.
The Trash Pandas grabbed a run in the 4th thanks to a sac-fly from Jake Munroe and then proceeded to unload an 8-run inning in the 6th, punctuated by a grand slam from former Blue Wahoo Jake Thompson. This blast made it an 11-6 ballgame at the time, but Rocket City wasn’t done. They would put two more up in the 7th and three more up in the 8th to bring the score to a merciful 16-6. Because of the rain delay, Eliazar Dishmey, Pensacola’s starter, did not return after the first inning, meaning all 16 runs were allowed by the Wahoo bullpen. Colby Martin (L, 2-4, BS, 2) took the loss while Lucas Mahlstedt (W, 2-0) grabbed the win.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series against the Trash Pandas on Friday night. First pitch from Toyota Field is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT, with a live broadcast beginning at 6:30 on Bally Sports Live, BlueWahoos.com/radio or the MiLB app.