Stephen Gonsalves (6-1) struck out nine hitters over six innings Wednesday.
photo by Tim Evearitt
Lefthander Stephen Gonsalves continued his run as one of the Lookouts best pitchers with six no-hit innings in a 6-3 win over the Montgomery Biscuits Wednesday.
The win moved the Lookouts to just a game behind Montgomery in the battle for the SL playoffs.
Gonsalves was dominant in his six innings, striking out nine batters while allowing just two baserunners on walks.
The only thing that stopped the twenty-two year old's run at history was an elevated pitch count, as it took Gonsalves 105 pitches to get through his outing.
The Lookouts offense backed Gonsalves' sterling start with two runs in the first on back-to-back doubles from Ryan Walker and Niko Goodrum and an RBI single from Travis Harrison. Chattanooga added another pair in the fourth with TJ White and Levi Michael each driving in runs, and went up 5-0 when White collected his second RBI in the sixth.
The no-hit bid and shutout ended in the seventh inning when Alan Busenitz allowed his first runs since getting traded to the Minnesota Twins organization. Busenitz allowed both hits and all three runs the Biscuits collected in his two innings of work, before the Lookouts brought home a final insurance run on an Edgar Corcino sac fly in the home half of the seventh.
Mother nature intervened with a strong rain one pitch (thrown by Mason Melotakis) in to the top of the eighth, delaying the contest by 44 minutes before the tarp came off the field and the Lookouts closed out their win with two hitless innings from Zack Jones. Jones struck out four and earned his first save with the Lookouts in 2016 to preserve the victory.
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The two teams with the best shot to earn the second half playoff spot in the North Division will wrestle for position in the standings again Thursday night at 7:15.
Aaron Slegers, the team leader in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts takes the mound for Chattanooga opposite Biscuits' righty Chih-Wei Hu.
Note: Read Minor League Baseball's story of Gonsalves performance at http://tinyurl.com/hlvcca4
Roster changes: Busenitz to Rochester, Melotakis on DL, Omar Bencomo and Todd Van Steensel to Chattanooga.