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The Rocket City Trash Pandas couldn’t maintain a five-run lead in a 7-6 loss to the Tennessee Smokies in the finale of their six-game series Sunday night.

In a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the eighth, Tennessee’s Tim Susnara scored Nelson Maldonado with the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly.

Smokies reliever Ethan Roberts closed the game out in the ninth retiring the Trash Pandas in order to complete the save and secure the victory for Tennessee.

Rocket City’s Izzy Wilson opened the scoring to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with a two-run home run, his 13th of the season.

Zack Davis got the run right back for Tennessee in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. The Trash Pandas took the two-run lead right back on a David MacKinnon RBI single.

Torii Hunter Jr. doubled the Trash Pandas lead with a three-run shot over the center field wall giving the Trash Pandas a 6-1 lead.

Tennessee began the comeback in the fourth. Brennan Davis hit a solo home run off of Trash Pandas starting pitcher Davis Daniel. In Daniel’s Double-A debut, he allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in his 3 1/3 innings pitched.

The Smokies tallied four runs in the fifth to tie the game after a Davis RBI double to center that scores Jared Young.

The Trash Pandas could not take the lead back in the seventh or eighth, allowing the Smokies to take the lead for the first time in the game in the eighth.

Three Trash Pandas batters had multi-hit games while Hunter Jr. had three RBIs on his one swing of the bat.

The Trash Pandas will be back at Toyota Field tonight to begin a six-game series with the Montgomery Biscuits. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

Friday’s doublehader

The Rocket City Trash Pandas struggled in the first game, losing 9-2 to the Tennessee Smokies, while the offense was unable to produce any runs in the second game of the game of the day by a final score of 2-0.

The Smokies went yard four times in their 9-2 victory before a pair of solo home runs was all they needed in the second game to complete the 2-0 shutout.

In the first game, the Smokies got to Rocket City starting pitcher Kyle Tyler early. An error allowed the first Smokies run to score in the second inning. After putting the second run on the board, Tennessee’s Christopher Morel put the game out of the reach by hitting a two-run home run in the third and fourth inning to give the Smokies a 6-0 lead.

The Trash Pandas got their first run of the game in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Luis Aviles Jr. to bring home Michael Cruz.

Back to back home runs from Tennessee’s Chase Strumf and Susnnara off of Rocket City reliever Kyle Molnar widened the lead to 9-1. in the fifth.

Aviles Jr. got the second RBI of the game in the seventh on another sacrifice fly.

Tyler took the loss for Rocket City. He gave up six runs, five earned, on 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts in his four innings of work.Molnar gave up three runs in his only inning of work.

The Smokies picked up right where they left off in the second game as Morel launched a solo shot, his third of the doubleheader, off of Rocket City starting pitcher Reid Detemers in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Smokies doubled their lead with a solo home run off the bat of Jared Young to right-center, making it 2-0. That’s all the run support they needed to give starter Javier Assad as he kept the Trash Pandas offense off the board for the duration of his time on the mound. In his six innings pitched, he gave up just two hits, walked one, and struck out three to get the victory.

Detmers suffered the loss after giving up two runs, with three walks and eight strikeouts over five innings.

Saturday’s game

Rocket City 9, Tennessee 2

The Rocket City Trash Pandas got their high-powered offense to work Saturday night in a 9-2 win over the Tennessee Smokies at Smokies Stadium.

Rocket City’s Orlando Martinez and Luis Aviles Jr. both reached with one-out singles in the top of the first. David DacKinnon then hit a two-run double to left to put the Trash Pandas up 2-0. Wilson followed with a walk to put two runners on.

Mitch Nay came to the plate and hit a three-run home run down the left field line, his team-leading 13th home run, to give the Trash Pandas a 5-0 lead at the end of the first.

Trash Pandas starting pitcher Cooper Criswell held the Smokies hitless until the fourth inning.

In the fifth, MacKinnon hit his third double of the night off the center field wall. Wilson followed that up with a two-run blast to right, his 12th of the year, to increase their lead of 7-0.

Criswell limited the Smokies bats to just one run in his six innings pitched. He allowed five hits while walking none and striking out nine to earn the win.

This was Criswell’s fourth win in a row and league-leading sixth of the season.

Rocket City reliever Nathan Bates pitched a scoreless seventh and Connor Higgins allowed one run in the eighth.

The Trash Pandas added two more runs in the ninth as Michael Cruz came around to score on an error and Aviles Jr. hit a RBI single to score Hunter Jr to finishing off the scoring at 9-2.

Higgins pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the victory for the Trash Pandas.