With his 22nd double. Adam Brett Walker collected his 84, 85th RBIs.
photo by Tim Evearitt
Tennessee topped the Chattanooga Lookouts 8-4 in front of a Smokies Stadium single-game record crowd of 7,866 on Friday evening at Smokies Park.
Jason Wheeler made the start for the Lookouts. The lefty went six innings. He was charged with six runs on ten hits. He walked three and struck out four. Brandon Peterson worked the final two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and two walks.
Adam Brett Walker went 2-for-5 with his 22nd double. He drove in his 83rd and 84th runs of the season. Heiker Meneses went 2-for-5. Stuart Turner was 1-for-2 with a walk. Levi Michael walked twice.
Smokies center fielder Jacob Hannemann collected four hits, including three extra-base hits, and made a spectacular run-saving catch, while left fielder Albert Almora Jr. homered and drove in three runs.
The defeat dropped Chattanooga to 9-17 since the Southern League's All-Star break, as well as a 52-42 mark throughout the entire campaign.
For the fourth consecutive game, the Smokies jumped out to an early advantage, plating a tally in the opening frame. Hannemann got the first of his four hits by leading off Tennessee's order with a double to right, and then would come around to score via C Willson Contreras' run-scoring two-bagger down the left field line to make it a 1-0 lead.
The Lookouts would leap ahead of the Smokies in the third, however, thanks to a double of their own. Shannon Wilkerson started the frame with a double just inside the third base bag, while Heiker Meneses and Kennys Vargas drew a free pass to load the bases for Adam Brett Walker, who slammed a two-run double off the leff field wall, plating Wilkerson and Meneses to move Chattanooga ahead 2-1.
Tennessee, would strike right back, though, with a two-spot of their own in the bottom of the third.
That margin would increase even further in the sixth when the team doubled their run total with a three-spot.
Chattanooga would cut their decifit back down to three in the seventh. Wilkerson drew a one-out walk, and then moved from first to third via Meneses' base knock to left, before coming across on a wild pitch to make it 6-3. After Max Kepler slapped a single to right to put runners on the corners with two outs, Vargas lofted a fly ball into shallow center field, but Hannemann charged in and made a diving face-first grab to end the threat and preserve the three-run cushion.
The Smokies would answer back with a single tally in the seventh to put the lead back to four at 7-3.
Both teams then traded single tallies again the eighth frame to close out the scoring.
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The teams continues their three-game homestand Saturday evening at Smokies Park, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The Smokies are expected to give the nod to RHP Andres Santiago (1-3, 4.42), while Chattanooga is slated to counter with LHP David Hurlbut (6-4, 4.25).