Homer-Happy Lookouts Bounce Back To Win

Four Home Runs The Difference As Chattanooga Holds On For 5-4 Victory

  • Wednesday, June 29, 2022
  • John Hunt
Spencer Stockton picked up the win for Chattanooga against the Barons Wednesday night at AT&T Field.
Spencer Stockton picked up the win for Chattanooga against the Barons Wednesday night at AT&T Field.
photo by John Bradford

Oh, the difference a day makes.

The Chattanooga Lookouts were shocked and stunned on Tuesday night when the Birmingham Barons scored 10 unanswered runs for a come-from-behind 12-9 victory at AT&T Field.

There was no such late comeback on Wednesday as the Lookouts took advantage of four home runs to post a 5-4 victory to even their second-half record at 1-1.

Relief pitching was suspect for the Lookouts on Tuesday, but three guys from the bullpen were all but perfect on Wednesday as they didn’t allow a run in the final 5.1 innings.

Chattanooga manager Jose Moreno was obviously much happier on Wednesday following a much-needed win.

“Our bullpen was just great tonight, but I’m so happy we could bounce back after the disaster we experienced yesterday,” Moreno said following the win.

“We attacked and were aggressive at the plate.  We were ready to hit when the game began and were able to do some damage with our bats.  But I can’t say enough about our bullpen as they really did an outstanding job for us tonight,” he added.

All five of Chattanooga’s runs came via home runs.

Alex McGarry and Ivan Johnson both had solo shots in the second to put the Lookouts ahead 2-0.

A two-run shot by Michael De Leon in the fifth knotted the score at 4-4 after the Barons had taken a lead with four runs in the fourth.

And then in the sixth, Lookout newcomer Allen Cerda hit his second home run in two days to lead off the inning and that turned out to be the winning run.

Eduardo Salazar got the start for Chattanooga and was replaced by Spencer Stockton with two outs in the fourth after allowing all four runs on six hits.

Stockton pitched three scoreless innings before Andy Fisher got the final out in the seventh.  Stevie Branche then finished the game with two scoreless innings, getting Jose Rodriguez on a swinging third strike in the ninth with the potential tying run on third base.

Salazar did okay at the start, but really struggled the second time through the Birmingham batting order.

D.J. Burt led off with a single and stole second before scoring on a single by Rodriguez.  Tyler Neslony singled to put runners on first and third before a single from Craig Dedelow knotted the score by driving in Rodriguez.  A two-run double by Ian Dawkins ended the night for Salazar, but further damage was avoided when Stockton got Burt on a fly to center.

The Barons finished the game with 10 hits, including two in the ninth, but were unable to score again as the Lookouts hung on for the win.

Burt and Neslony both had two hits for the Barons while there were no Lookouts with more than one.

Game three of this series will be Thursday with the first pitch set for 7:15.

BIRMINGHAM  000 400 000 – 4 10 1

CHATTANOOGA  020 021 00x – 5 7 0

Vargas, Paulino (5) and Skoug; Salazar, Stockton (4), Fisher (7), Branche (8) and Free.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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