The Chattanooga Lookouts got back on the winning track Saturday night at AT&T Field.
Facing the Rocket City Trash Pandas in game five of a six-game series, the Lookouts snapped a two-game losing streak with the 6-4 victory, the good guys now 3-2 for the young season.
The series concludes on Sunday at 2:15 before the Lookouts go to Montgomery and Mississippi for their first road trip before returning home on Tuesday, May 25 to face the Tennessee Smokies.
Connor Curlis, Chattanooga’s starting pitcher, got his first win after allowing one run on one hit in six innings. He walked three and struck out two and never really had a bad inning.
David MacKinnon, the Rocket City leadoff man, started the game with a sharp double to the wall in right-center. He advanced to third on a fly to right by Michael Stefanic before scoring on a sacrifice fly to left by Orlando Martinez.
The Lookouts took the lead with three runs in the third on the strength of three singles, a walk and a Rocket City error.
Leonardo Rivas led off with walk and went to second on a single by Chuckie Robinson. Alejo Lopez then bunted to the pitcher, but his throw to third was wide as Rivas raced home with the first run.
Jose Garcia and Narciso Crook followed with RBI-singles to give Curlis an early cushion to work with.
Robinson had an RBI-single in the fourth while T.J. Hopkins drove in the final run with a triple in the fifth that drove in Byrd Tenerowicz, who had reached on a two-out single.
Ryan Lillie relieved Curlis in the seventh and struck out the side after walking two, but nobody scored and Chattanooga’s lead was still relatively-safe at 5-1.
Lillie wasn’t as fortunate in the eighth as the Trash Pandas used four straight hits to get within one as they scored three times before Julio Pinto entered the game and slammed the door on Rocket City’s rally.
MacKinnon and Stefanic led off with back-to-back singles before Martinez drove in MacKinnon with a double into the left-field corner. A single by Mitch Nay allowed Stefanic to score as Lillie was then pulled.
Pinto allowed a fly to right by Ray-Patrick Didder to drive in Martinez with the third run, but the slender righty struck out Ibandel Isabel and Izzy Wilson to avoid any further trouble.
The Lookouts added an insurance run in the eighth as Garcia’s double with two outs plated Lopez, who had walked.
Pinto struck out Matt Jones to start the ninth before hitting pinch-hitter Michael Cruz. He got MacKinnon on a swinging third strike for the second out before walking Stefanic, putting the potential tying runs on base.
J.C. Keys was then summoned from the bullpen and got the save when he got a called third strike against Martinez to end the game. That was a big final out as Martinez had already slugged three home runs in the first four games of the series.
While Curlis was the winning pitcher, Jake Lee took the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits in five innings. Only three of his runs were earned.
Pinto got the hold while Keys earned his first save of the season.
Hopkins had three hits to lead the Chattanooga offense while Lopez, Garcia and Robinson all had two apiece. MacKinnon was the only Rocket City player with two hits.
A crowd of 2,522 fans got to witness it and left happy, but nobody left any happier than Shane Burrow, who won the first used car giveaway of the season, a black 2008 Nissan Altima.
ROCKET CITY 100 000 030 – 4 5 1
CHATTANOOGA 003 110 01x – 6 11 0
Lee, Lovegrove (6) and Jones; Curlis, Lillie (7), Pinto (8), Keys (9) and Robinson.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)