PENSACOLA, Fla. — An eighth inning rally was enough for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos to edge out a 5-4 win over the Rocket City Trash Pandas and even the six-game series at two wins each.
Rocket City would start fast as catcher Tyler Payne singled for the game's first run in the second inning. A grounder off the bat of outfielder David Calabrese followed by a double from infielder Arol Vera extended the Trash Pandas lead to three by the end of the inning.
Outfielder Nelson Rada singled to bring home Payne in the fourth adding onto the lead for Rocket City.
Pensacola got on the board in the fifth with a two-run home run from infielder Javier Sanoja. That was the only damage allowed by Trash Pandas starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz who tossed five innings while allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Sanoja drove in another run, this time against the Rocket City bullpen, off an error in the seventh.
Blue Wahoos designated hitter Jake Thompson tied the game with a single in the eighth and infielder Sean Roby gave Pensacola its first lead of the day on a sacrifice fly off Trash Pandas reliever Nick Jones (L, 0-1). Pitcher Austin Roberts (S, 4) threw a clean ninth inning to complete the comeback victory for the Blue Wahoos.
Rocket City will aim to bounce back against Pensacola on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Meanwhile, Brett Kerry has been promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake. Kerry made two appearances for Rocket City to open the season and tossed four innings in each outing. Kerry didn’t allow a run and struck out 14 batters across his appearances.
Kerry will make his second trip to Triple-A Salt Lake after closing out the 2023 season with the team.
