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Angels' Minor League Affiliate, Rocket City, Faces Winner-Take-All Game Three
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- Angels' Minor League Affiliate, Rocket City, Faces Winner-Take-All Game Three
(USA Today Network)
And then there was one, as in one game remaining to determine which team will be the 2026 Southern League champion.
Following Sunday night's 5-4 comeback victory , the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels , returned home to Toyota Field on Tuesday night, knowing that a victory over the Biloxi Shuckers ( Milwaukee Brewers affiliate) would give the franchise its first title and the Huntsville, AL-area its first Southern League crown since 1994.
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It was not to be, as the Shuckers broke up a scoreless pitcher's duel after five innings by tagging the Trash Pandas bullpen for three runs in the sixth and two apiece in the eighth and ninth to post a 7-0 victory. The win evened the championship series at 1-1 and makes it a winner-take-all Game Three Wednesday night at Toyota Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT.
A Toyota Field-record postseason crowd of 4,756 was on hand as Trash Pandas ace Tyler Bremner, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft and the game's No. 43 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline , took the mound. In addition to hoping to secure a Southern League championship, Bremner is one of the leading young stars in an improving Angels farm system that is hoping to contribute to a quick and fruitful rebuild at the major-league level.
Bremner did his part as he twirled five scoreless innings while allowing two hits and issuing two walks with seven strikeouts. Fifty of his 78 pitches found the strike zone on the night.
Unfortunately for Bremner and the Trash Pandas, Biloxi's Bishop Letson was just a little bit better as the right-hander needed only 87 pitches to cover seven scoreless innings with four hits allowed and 12 strikeouts.
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According to a report from Chris Harris of MLB.com , the Shuckers broke through against reliever Chris Cortez in the sixth. Braylon Payne's single was followed by a run-scoring double by Jesus Made before Andrew Fischer launched a two-run homer, his 50th of the season, to stake Biloxi to a 3-0 lead.
The Shuckers added a pair of runs in the eighth on Fischer's two-run double, capping a 2-for-4, four-RBI night for the 1B/3B prospect. Dylan O'Rae and Made added RBI singles in the ninth to close the scoring.
Rocket City's only real threat came in the first when Nick Rodriguez singled and Jacob Cozart followed with a two-out double, but Rodriguez was thrown out trying to score from first on the play, ending the inning. Following Letson to the mound, Wande Torres retired all six batters he faced, five via strikeout, to close out the game.
Wednesday night's deciding Game Three will see Rocket City send Austin Gordon to the mound to face Biloxi's J.D. Thompson.
