Missed opportunities were the hottest topic of the day in the final game of the series between the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Rocket City Trash Pandas Sunday afternoon at AT&T Field.
The Trash Pandas actually had more missed chances as they stranded 16 runners on base to just 10 for the Lookouts, but they prevailed by a 3-2 final after taking better advantage of the opportunities they had.
The Lookouts had recorded an incredible comeback victory on Saturday night when they scored five runs to prevail 9-8, but they didn’t have that same kind of production a day later.
Trailing 3-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, the Lookouts scored once to cut that lead in half, but left the potential tying run on third when T.J. Hopkins struck out to end the game.
Lookouts manager Jose Moreno was hoping his team could win on Sunday and take the series by a 4-2 count, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
“We just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities,” he said after the last out had been recorded.
“We didn’t have many good at-bats as we chased too many balls out of the strike zone. We played better this week than we’ve been playing, but we can still do more. We just have to be more consistent,” he added.
The Trash Pandas loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, but didn’t score as Chattanooga starting pitcher Connor Phillips somehow managed to escape without any runs scoring.
He wasn’t as lucky in the third when again the Trash Pandas put their first two hitters on base. A double by Tori Hunter plated Sonny DiChiara with the first run while a groundout by Jose Gomez drove in Jeremiah Jackson with the second.
That lead lasted until the sixth and that’s when the Lookouts finally got on the board.
Hopkins led off with a double and later scored on a single by Nick Quintana with one out. Matt McLain, Saturday night’s hero, then doubled to put runners on second and third with just the one out, but Rocket City reliever Nick Jones ended that threat by getting Ivan Johnson on a swinging third strike and Allan Cerda on a fly to left.
Rocket City added a third run in the eighth without a hit. Preston Palmeiro led off with a walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Hunter.
The Lookouts, who had at least one runner on base in all nine innings, put two on in the eighth, but could not get the clutch hit they so badly needed.
Quintana walked with one out before McLain got hit by a pitch. Johnson then ripped a liner toward first that DiChiara alertly snagged and turned into an inning-ending double play.
Cerda walked to lead off the Chattanooga ninth and went to third on a double by pinch-hitter Alex McGarry. Elly De La Cruz then lined to left for the first out before Siani’s grounder to second plated Cerda with the second run.
Hopkins was the last hope for the Lookouts as he batted with McGarry on third with two outs. He had a great game with three hits on the day, but couldn’t get a fourth when it counted the most.
Hunter was the only Rocket City player with two hits and he also had two RBIs.
Hopkins had three hits to lead the Chattanooga offense while James Free, McLain and Quintana all had two apiece.
Rocket City starter Mason Erla earned the win after allowing just one run on seven hits in 5.1 innings. Aaron Hernandez, who allowed the last run in the ninth, earned his second save.
Phillips took the loss for the Lookouts and is now 0-3 on the season.
Chattanooga returns to action on Tuesday with a six-game series at Birmingham before returning home on Aug. 9 to face the Montgomery Biscuits.
ROCKET CITY 002 000 010 – 3 7 1
CHATTANOOGA 000 001 001 – 2 11 1
Erla, Jones (6), Ingram (7), Hernandez (9) and Humphreys; Phillips, Stockton (3), Olson (6), Nutof (7), Garcia (9) and Free.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)