The Rocket City Trash Pandas post a 5-4 come-from-behind win at Biloxi to take a 1-0 lead in the Championship Series.
The Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, are one win away from capturing the Southern League championship following Sunday's 5-4 comeback victory over the Biloxi Shuckers (Milwaukee Brewers affiliate) at Keesler Federal Park in Biloxi, MS.
With a win at home at Toyota Field on either Tuesday or Wednesday night, the Trash Pandas will claim their first Southern League title since relocating to the Huntsville, AL, suburb of Madison from Mobile in 2020. The title would also be the first for a Huntsville-based team since 1994, when the Huntsville Stars, an affiliate of the Oakland A's at the time, swept the Chattanooga Lookouts 3-0 in the Southern League finals.
Sparking the Sunday comeback was shortstop Arjun Nimmala, the Angels' top prospect who had also been the catalyst in Rocket City's two-game sweep of Knoxville in the Southern League semis. Nimmala had been quiet with two strikeouts and a flyout in his first three at-bats on Sunday before he stepped to the plate in the top of the 7th against Biloxi reliever Manuel Rodriguez.
With Joe Scull on second following a leadoff double, Nimmala laced a hard grounder to shortstop Jesus Made, who ill-advisedly tried to cut down Scull at third. As Made's errant throw ricocheted off the netting in front of the Trash Pandas' dugout, Nimmala scampered to second with Scull holding at third. A wild pitch plated Scull and moved Nimmala up 90 feet from where he scored on Jake Munroe's single to right to knot the game 4-4.
With the score still tied in the top of the 9th, Nimmala drove a one-out double into the right-field gap. Three pitches later, Nick Rodriguez lined a hard single to right off Ryan Birchard and Nimmala never hesitated in rounding third before sliding home just as the throw arrived, with home-plate umpire Jaylen Goodman emphatically signaling "safe" on the bang-bang play.
"Good pitcher, really good fastball, so I was trying to get something in the middle and put a good swing on it," said Rodriguez, as reported by Chris Harris of MLB.com.
Through six, the Trash Pandas were having trouble solving Biloxi starter Josh Knorth. He faltered just once, walking Munroe on four pitches before watching catcher Jacob Cozart launch an 0-2 offering over the fence in right for a 2-0 Rocket City lead in the third.
Biloxi got one back on Josh Adamczewski's solo home run off starter Nate Stead in the fourth before the Shuckers moved ahead in the fifth. Working against Rocket City reliever Eybersson Polanco, the Shuckers put runners at first and second with two outs, with Andrew Fischer coming to the plate. He responded with a three-run opposite-field blast to the trees in left, giving the Shuckers their ill-fated 4-2 lead. It was Fischer's 49th homer of the season, leaving him one shy of becoming the first minor leaguer to hit 50 bombs since Chicago White Sox farmhand and future AL Rookie of the Year Ron Kittle accomplished the feat in 1982.
In addition to the offensive heroics, the Trash Pandas got yeoman work out of the pen from Lucas Knowles, Camden Minacci and Kenyon Yovan. The three combined for 3.2 scoreless innings with only two hits allowed, with Yovan capping the night with a loud yell from the mound as he struck out Braylon Payne to end the game.
Rocket City now heads to Tuesday night with ace Tyler Bremner, the system's No. 2 prospect and No. 43 overall according to MLB Pipeline, set to take the mound where he'll face off against Biloxi's Bishop Letson. If a Game 3 is necessary on Wednesday, Lucas Gordon will start for the Trash Pandas with J.D. Thompson slated for Biloxi.
A win on either Tuesday or Wednesday would not only secure a championship for Rocket City, but also cap quite the turnaround story. In 2025, the Trash Pandas finished 45-92, the worst record in minor-league baseball, but bounced back to go 72-65 this year. Winning the North Division's second-half title punched their ticket to playoffs before the sweep of Knoxville and Sunday night's win moved them to the doorstep of history.
"This doesn't happen all the time, and that's why I want our guys to really enjoy it," said manager Joe Kruzel, as reported by Harris. "If any team I've ever been around deserves this success, it's this one. To turn things around after having the worst record in Minor League Baseball—it's an incredible story, and a credit to what these players and coaches are doing."
