Lookouts Flirt With No-Hitter But Salvage a 5-4 Win Wednesday

Chattanooga Lookouts pitchers Chris Reed (W, 1-1) and Mike Thomas combined to throw eight no-hit innings to lead the team to a 5-4 win over the Jacksonville Suns on a cold, but sunny day at AT&T Field Wednesday afternoon.

The game was not a pretty affair to watch with a total of seven errors committed by both teams. There was also a pitcher's balk that allowed a runner to score, a pass ball and two wild pitches.

Reed may have no-hit the Suns over seven innings but he was charged with two runs -- both unearned.

The left-handed pitcher threw his second consecutive game with nine strikeouts. The Stanford grad continued his dominance over the Suns. In five starts over the past two seasons, the southpaw has only allowed one run in 29 innings (0.31) while striking out 32 batters against Jacksonville. After Wednesday's game, he has a 1.02 ERA

The scoring began early when Angel Morales, who reached base on a fielding error by Ozzie Martinez, scored on a throwing error by Reed.  The Suns lead did not last long as the Lookouts answered in the bottom of the first inning.  Center fielder Noel Cuevas hit a single to lead off the innning and then moved to second when Martinez smacked a single of his own.  Cuevas proceeded to move to third base on a fly out by O'Koyea Dickson and then scored on a balk by Suns' starting pitcher Angel Sanchez.  The team then took the 2-1 lead on a wild pitch by Sanchez.
 
In the third inning the Suns manufactured another run without a hit when Morales reached base on an error, stole two bases and was plated on throwing error by Chris O'Brien.  With the game tied, Reed continued to stymie the Suns' offense and retired seven straight batters before being pulled after the sixth inning.  Before Lookouts' reliever Mike Thomas took the mound in the seventh the Lookouts seized the lead on a Scott Schebler RBI double.
 
Thomas aimed to complete the team's first ever no-hitter at AT&T Field. The righty recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh to bring the Lookouts within six outs of accomplishing the feat.  In the bottom of that inning Chattanooga added two insurance runs on a fielders choice and a RBI single by Jeremy Hazelbaker.  Thomas again took the mound in the top of the eighth and retired the next three batters he faced to continue the team's dominant pitching performance.
 

Heading into the ninth inning the team brought in red-hot reliever Pedro Baez for his fourth save-attempt of the season.  The no-hitter ended when Baez gave up two hits. Brady Shoemaker broke up the combined no-hit bid as the second batter in the ninth inning with a sharp single up the middle. Baez yielded two runs but did capture his fourth save of the year.

Box

Thursday, the Lookouts are hoping to win their first series of the season when they face southpaw Justin Nicolino at 7:15 p.m. on the team's first ever @NoogaStartup Night. Lookouts right-hander Andres Santiago gets the start for Chattanooga.