Saturday’s suspended game resumed Sunday afternoon, and the Lookouts came away with an 11-10 victory over Tennessee before falling, 8-4, to the Smokies in the regularly scheduled contest at AT&T Field.
Picking the game up in the top of the eighth inning, both teams resumed their rain-shortened game from last night in which the score was 8-8 at the time of its suspension. Both teams failed to score in the eighth and ninth, so the game went into extra innings. The Smokies scored two runs in the top of the tenth, but the Lookouts came roaring back once again with two runs of their own on a Rafael Ynoa two-RBI single in the bottom portion of the inning.
The Smokies scored again in the top of the eleventh, but, once again, the Lookouts came through in the clutch. After two quick outs were recorded by reliever Casey Harman (0-3), Blake Smith singled. Harman then proceeded to walk two straight runners before allowing C.J. Retherford to win the game for Chattanooga with a two-RBI hit down the left-field line. With the win, the Lookouts successfully overcame an early 7-0 deficit.
Blake Patterson (6-1) was credited with the win for throwing the final two frames of the game for the Lookouts.
In the regularly scheduled game, the Lookouts took an early lead. Blake Smith led off the second inning with a double and advanced to third on a subsequent bunt single from C.J. Retherford. Jake Lemmerman followed with a ground out to bring home Smith.
Tennessee took the lead in the fourth inning on a two-RBI single from Nelson Perez off of Lookouts starting pitcher Ethan Martin (7-6).
The Smokies exploded for six runs in the sixth inning to take break the game wide open, and this time, the Lookouts rally would fall short. A two-RBI double from Michael Burgess, RBI double from Junior Lake, and RBI singles from Chad Noble, Dustin Harrington, and Logan Watkins accounted for the damage.
Chattanooga attempted another improbable comeback in the ninth. With the bases loaded, Griff Erickson ripped a bullet into center, scoring Kyle Russell and C.J. Retherford. Travis Denker then hit a sacrifice fly to put the score at 8-4, but Smokies reliever Trey McNutt was able to induce a game-ending ground out to seal the victory for Tennessee.
Nicholas Struck (11-9) earned the win for the Smokies by pitching five runs of one-run ball. He yielded just four hits, while striking out two and not issuing a single walk.
Inning by inning Recap of the game.
Box Score.
The Lookouts will have an off day Monday before resuming their current homestand on Tuesday with a five-game series against the Birmingham Barons.
Tickets for these games or any other Lookouts home game can be purchased at the Lookouts Box Office at AT&T Field, online at www.lookouts.com, or by calling (423) 267-4849.