Lefty Sam Clay was the losing pitcher for the Lookouts.
photo by Tim Evearitt
Pensacola, FL. - Chattanooga got good pitching performances for the most part but their bats were cold against Pensacola's Keury Mella. The Lookouts are now 2-5 in early Southern League play.
On a windy night in Pensacola, Mella made sure to pound the strike zone early and often against the Lookouts. While he only recorded three strikeouts on the night, Mella never allowed a walk and only yielded five hits.
For most of the evening, he was generating weak groundouts and soft fly outs, and never seemed under duress.
Despite struggling at times with his command, Chattanooga starter Stephen Gonsalves held up his end of the pitchers' duel. The number four prospect in the Twins organization held the Wahoos scoreless through four innings.
Lookouts manager Tommy Watkins went to the bullpen and brought in another southpaw in Sam Clay who fired a one-two-three inning in the fifth. When he returned in the sixth, the Wahoos rallied for the first two runs of the game.
With one out in the inning, Gabby Guerrero singled before Josh VanMeter hit a two-strike double into the left-center gap to bring home Guerrero for a 1-0 lead. Aristides Aquino immediately followed that up with a double of his own to score VanMeter and double up the advantage. In the seventh, the Wahoos added one more insurance run when Aquino legged out an infield single to allow Guerrero to score from third to make it 3-0.
Alex Power and Ariel Hernandez got the Wahoo bullpen back on track with three combined scoreless innings to secure the shutout.
The series continues Friday night when RHP Vladimir Gutierrez (0-1, 9.82) gets the nod for the Blue Wahoos while the Lookouts will send Randy LeBlanc out for the Lookouts (0-1, 3.60).
Roster change: LHP Tyler Jay on the disabled list and LHP Anthony McIver on the active roster