Kohl Stewart (2-0) continues to sparkle throws four scoreless innings.
photo by Tim Evearitt
Pensacola, FL. - The Chattanooga Lookouts moved to .500 (5-5) Sunday with a 5-4 win over Pensacola For the third straight game the Blue Wahoos had a late-game threat, and for the third straight game, they came up empty. The Blue Wahoos played catchup for a majority of Sunday's finale and left the tying run on in the ninth to lose their second-straight series to open the season.
Wyatt Strahan (L, 1-1) was roughed up in his second start and Lookouts starter Kohl Stewart (W, 2-0) briefly flirted with a perfect game with four shutout innings.
In Sunday's matinee, Chattanooga scored first for the first time in the series by cashing in on an error by Gavin LaValley combined with an RBI-single by T.J.
White.
White wasn't done there, because when he came to the plate in the third inning with a man out, he crushed his second homer of the year to make it 3-0. White finished the game with three of Chattanooga's five RBIs. Zander Wiel also had a big day at the plate going 3-for-4 and getting hit by a Strahan pitch.
Meanwhile, Stewart was tremendous to open the game for the Lookouts. He retired the first 13 Blue Wahoos he faced before Josh VanMeterwalked for the Wahoos' first baserunner. Aristides Aquino ended the no-hitter bid on the next pitch when he roped a double into left to put to men in scoring position. The Wahoos would only settle for one run in the fifth thanks to Brian O'Grady's RBI groundout.
Pensacola rallied for two more in the sixth when Nick Longhi homered off Stewart to score Shed Long and make it a one-run game. Again, the Wahoos had the tying run in scoring position but stranded him there when Aquino ended the inning with a flyout.
Ryan Walker's eighth-inning home run proved to be a massive insurance run because in the bottom of the eighth, Long and Longhi opened the frame with singles and then advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. LaValley hit a sac fly to make it 5-4 and Longhi was at third base with only one out in the inning; however, Gabby Guerrero and VanMeter were both retired to end the threat.
The Wahoos made one final push in the ninth when Aquino led off the inning of the ninth with a double, but Harper retired O'Grady and Garrett Boulware before Williams Ramirez (S, 2) struck out pinch-hitter CJ McElroy for his second save of the year.
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The Lookouts return home Monday to aim for their fourth straight win when they take on the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp at AT&T Field. Game time is 7:15 p.m.
Roster update: RHP Ryne Harper (Transferred to Rochester); RHP #48 Cody Stashak (Transferred to Chattanooga from Fort Myers)
Veteran T.J. White has begun to hit. He slammed his second homer and went 2-for-3, with 3 RBI.
photo by Tim Evearitt