When Wilson Garcia hits a home run, he doesn’t bother with fly balls that barely clear the wall. His round-trippers often scrape the sky and land 400-plus feet from home plate. His top of the fifth blast in the second game of the doubleheader was such a no-doubter that Birmingham’s center fielder just turned and watched as it flew over his head.
The Chattanooga Lookouts (51-48) are now only one game back of the division-leading Birmingham Barons (54-50) after sweeping their doubleheader against the visitors from Alabama on Wednesday night.
Chattanooga is now tied with second-place Rocket City. Both games were seven inning affairs.
Graham Ashcraft got his seventh win in a Chattanooga uniform after he went five strong innings and gave up only two earned runs in the 3-2 win. Tyler Nelsony got him early for a home run, but TJ Hopkins had his pitcher’s back when he doubled to left and scored third baseman Robbie Tenerowicz in the bottom of the second.
Ofreidy Gomez’s wild pitch got Drew Mount in from third, and catcher Chuckie Robinson drove in Hopkins on a grounder. That scoring outburst was all the Lookouts needed to win the game, as the Barons could only muster one run more run in the third before their offense shut down.
The Lookouts offense exploded in the second game, with Wilson Garcia the star. He drove in four off a sac fly and the previously-mentioned home run. Garcia didn’t do it alone though.
Tenerowicz has thrilled fans all season with his wild swings, which produce either powerful blasts into the outfield or strikeouts where he ends up on his knees. In the top of the fourth, Tenerowicz absolutely launched a ball over the left field wall as former Reds great Eric Davis watched on from the press box.
Miguel Hernandez tripled in the top of the fifth to drive in two more runs. Perez put Brimingham on the board with a single into center that scored Jameson Fisher during the bottom of the sixth (Birmingham was designated as the home team). Fisher’s double scored two more in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too late for the Barons. Their three-game lead is now only one, and the Lookouts have a reasonable shot at taking the division lead with five more games in the next four days.
GAME ONE SUMMARY:
BARONS: 011 000 0 - 2-6-0
LOOKOUTS: 030 000 X - 3-5-0
WP: Ashcraft
LP: Gomez
GAME TWO SUMMARY:
LOOKOUTS: 100 150 X - 7-8-1
BARONS: 000 001 2 - 3-5-4
WP: Wynne
LP: Vargas
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