Junk nearly perfect in 4-3 Trash Pandas win

BILOXI, Mississippi – With a filthy repertoire of pitches that was working for most of the night, Rocket City Trash Pandas starter Janson Junk almost made history, taking a perfect game into the ninth inning to power Rocket City to a 4-3 victory over the Biloxi Shuckers on Friday night at MGM Park.

In the best game of his career, Junk (W, 2-2) retired the first 24 hitters he faced and pitched a career-high 8.2 innings, allowing three runs on two hits and a walk with eight strikeouts to earn his second consecutive win. Seventy-three of his 100 pitches were strikes.

After two hits and a hit-by-pitch couldn’t put a run across in the first, the Trash Pandas offense struck first in the top of the third. Luis Aviles Jr. reached on an error to start the frame. Ray-Patrick Didder followed by lining a triple to the gap in left-center to score Aviles Jr. with the first run of the night. Orlando Martinez then plated Didder with an RBI ground out to second, giving the Trash Pandas an early 2-0 edge.

That score stood until the eighth. Aviles Jr. again got it started with a single to left. He advanced to second on a ground out, stole third, and came home on a wild pitch for the third Trash Pandas run of the night. An inning later, Anthony Mulrine’s RBI single scored Mitch Nay to make it 4-0 Rocket City.

Behind a mix of strikeouts and weak contact, Junk cruised through the opening innings. To begin the night, Junk needed only eight pitches to get through the first. The Shuckers tried to get to Junk early in the at-bat, but nothing worked for the home team.

In the fifth, the trade deadline acquisition needed only five pitches to set the Shuckers down in order. An inning later, eight pitches were enough to get the job done.

Between the seventh and eighth, Junk struck out five of the six batters he faced to keep the perfecto alive through eight.

But in the ninth, Tristen Lutz worked a three-ball count, the first allowed by Junk all night, before lining a single to left to break up the perfect game and no-hitter. A walk to Chad Spanberger put two on with nobody out in the ninth. Junk got the first out with a fly ball to left and the second with a pop up to Didder at second.

Down to their last out, the Shuckers finally broke through on a three-run homer to left from Korry Howell to spoil the shutout and end Junk’s start after 26 outs.

Kolton Ingram (S, 2) entered from the Rocket City bullpen and immediately walked Garrett Mitchell to put the tying run on base. Ingram rebounded by striking out David Fry to finish the win and earn the save, his second in four games.

At the plate, Aviles Jr. was the only Rocket City hitter to record a multi-hit game in a 2-for-5 performance with two runs with two runs. Didder’s triple in the third was his team-leading fifth of the season.

Rocket City (50-48) and Biloxi (37-63) meet again on Saturday night. First pitch at MGM Park is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Josh Caray will be on the call for 103.9 FM THE UMP and 730 AM SportsRadio.