Coming home was scarce comfort for the struggling Chattanooga Lookouts Wednesday night.
After a historically bad 0-10 road trip, and with 15 losses in their last 17 games, the Lookouts hoped some home cooking and another crack at the Huntsville Stars would turn things around.
But a four-run fifth inning crushed Chattanooga's delicate one-run lead and led to a 7-3 loss at AT&T Field.
The second game of the series will begin tonight at 7:15 with the Lookouts owning a 14-31 record in the second half, including a 4-21 road record.
Angelo Songco hit a solo homer in the second inning to get the night off to a promising start for the Lookouts. They scored again in the fourth on a bases-filled walk to Rafael Ynoa, but left the bases loaded. In the next half inning, the Stars began punishing Lookouts starter Garrett Gould (2-3). Anderson De La Rosa began the big inning with a double; Eric Marzec's double brought home two runs and Nick Shaw's triple scored Marzec. Shaw would scored on a Gould wild pitch.
The Lookouts' Miguel Rojas tried to answer with an RBI hit in the bottom of the fifth, but that would be the last gasp for the offense this night. The Stars, who outhit the Lookouts 12-8, finished with five doubles in the game as well as a triple.
Joc Pederson, arriving home to learn Baseball America had named him the league's most exciting player in its "tools" issue, was 1-for-5 with a run scored and two strikeouts.