Rockers tie grand slam record in win over Birds

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Drew Mendoza hit a grand slam and three High Point Rockers pitchers combined to throw six and one-third innings of perfect baseball as the Rockers opened a three-game series with a 12-5 win over the Charleston Dirty Birds Tuesday night at Truist Point.

Mendoza’s grand slam came as part of a six-run sixth inning that included an RBI single from D.J. Burt and a bases-loaded walk to Luis Gonzalez that propelled the Rockers to a 7-0 advantage.

The grand slam was the 14^th of the year by the Rockers, setting an Atlantic League record and tying the professional baseball record. The Class AAA Albuquerque Isotopes hit 14 slams in 2022. The Major League record is also 14, shared by the 2006 Cleveland Indians and the 2000 Oakland A’s.

The Rockers struck early and left no doubt to the outcome after Gonzalez led off the bottom of the first with a 419-foot blast off the video board for a 1-0 lead.

High Point starter Fin Del Bonta-Smith completed his scheduled two innings of work by retiring all six batters he faced with one strikeout. Erich Uelmen then put down all nine batters he faced in innings three through five. Scott Rouse struck out the side in the sixth before Alsander Womack blooped a soft line drive in center for the Birds’ first hit of the night.

As the Rockers prepare for Saturday’s start to the Atlantic League’s South Division Championship series with Gastonia, manager Jamie Keefe and Frank Viola carefully planned their pitcher’s workload in order to set their postseason rotation.

High Point added three runs in the seventh for a 12-0 lead as Evan Edwards drove in pair of runs and Ben Aklinski had an RBI single.

The Dirty Birds would not score until the eighth when they touched Zach Vennaro for five runs on four hits to make it a 12-5 game. Kyle Halbohn gained the final out of the eighth and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close the game.