3 Trash Pandas pitchers make history with no-hitter against Birmingham

Three Rocket City Trash Pandas pitchers—Austin Gordon, Lucas Mahlstedt and Camden Minacci—made team and league history Wednesday, August 27, when they combined to throw a no-hitter against the Birmingham Barons.

The historic game gave the Trash Pandas their fifth shutout of the season and moved Rocket City back into first place in the Southern League North Division second-half standings, a half-game ahead of Knoxville and one game ahead of Birmingham.

Historic pitching performance for Trash Pandas

A no-hitter is one of the most celebrated feats in baseball due to its rare nature with last night’s gem only the second no-hitter tossed in the Southern League this season. This was just the third no-hitter in Trash Pandas history.

The most recent came on April 8, 2023, when Coleman Crow, Ben Joyce and Eric Torres combined to no-hit Chattanooga despite a 7-5 Rocket City loss. The franchise’s first no-hitter came on September 3, 2022, when Chase Silseth, Luke Murphy and Torres combined for an 8-0 victory over Biloxi.

Here are some highlights from the historic game last night:

• Gordon pitched the bulk of the historic night, working seven scoreless innings with no walks and eight strikeouts. 
• Gordon only faced 22 batters, with the lone blemish being an error in the seventh inning.
• Mahlstedt took over in the eighth and retired all three batters he faced.
• Minacci recorded the final three outs and worked around a one-out walk to complete the no-hitter.

The Trash Pandas and Barons meet again on Thursday night in Birmingham for game three of the six-game series. Their final homestand of the regular season will be September 1-6 against Montgomery.

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