David Hurlbut collected his 10th win of the season.
photo by Tim Evearitt
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Another outstanding pitching performance led the Lookouts over the Barons for a second consecutive night Saturday at Regions Field. Left-hander David Hurlbut picked up his 10th win of the season while leading Chattanooga to a 5-2 victory in game two of the six-game series.
Hurlbut (10-6, 3.66 ERA) sat down five Barons on strikes and held the home team to just one run over seven innings. The Minnesota prospect's run was unearned, but a couple of close calls made his outing no walk in the park.
Three times over Hurlbut's seven innings of work were the Barons able to put two runners on base with less than two outs.
Tim Anderson and Jacob May led off the first with a couple of infield singles, and Joey DeMichele and Anderson began the third with back-to-back singles. The lefty was able to retire the next three batters he faced to escape the first, and a line out to third turned for a double play got him out of the third.
His only mistake came in the seventh that allowed the Barons to plate their first run of the night. With one out and the bases loaded, Birmingham catcher Jeremy Dowdy sent a sacrifice fly to right to score Danny Haye. Hurlbut exited following the inning with a 3-1 lead.
Chattanooga catcher Stuart Tuner added to the Lookouts' lead in the eighth with an RBI double to right off Barons' reliever Robinson Leyer. A wild pitcher from Leyer later in the inning allowed Turner to score from second, plating Chattanooga's fifth run.
Dowdy grounded into a double play in the ninth that allowed Hayes to score Birmingham's second run, but solid relief from right-hander D.J. Johnson slammed the door on the Barons' comeback hopes.
Birmingham ended the night with eight hits - the same as Chattanooga - but left eight runners on base as a team. Individually, 18 scoring chances were thwarted. Anderson and Brian Fletcher led the offense with two hits each, while left fielder Tony Thomas reached base three times via walks. Dowdy had the lone RBI.
Box
The Barons and Lookouts play two Sunday beginning at 2:30 p.m ET. The double header will feature two seven-inning games with the second contest beginning approximately 30 minutes following the first.