The Chattanooga Lookouts continue their early-season bout with prosperity.
After opening a homestand Monday night with a two-run victory over Montgomery, the Lookouts squandered a two-run lead Tuesday night and lost 7-5 to the Biscuits. The big blow occurred in the eighth inning, when Lookouts relief pitcher Harvey Garcia fielded a Ryan Royster bunt with runners on first and second and tried to make the force at third but threw wide.
The ball rolled all the way into the left-field corner, allowing Cody Cipriano and Cody Strait to score and break the 5-5 deadlock.
Chattanooga has not won consecutive games since opening 2-0 and now is 4-8 and six games back of sizzling Tennessee in the Southern League's North Division. Tuesday's game was played before an announced crowd of 1,553 at AT&T Field and lurched along in 3 hours, 34 minutes, marking the eighth time in the last 10 games the Lookouts have surpassed three hours.
The Lookouts took a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI double to left-center by Eddie Perez, an RBI infield hit by Scott Van Slyke and an Anthony Hatch sacrifice fly to center. Hatch had put the Lookouts on the board by opening the third with a home run to right-center.
Trayvon Robinson came home on a wild pitch in the fifth to put the Lookouts up 5-3, but Montgomery got within 5-4 in the sixth when Cipriano reached on a throwing error and scored on Craig Albernaz's two-out single to right. The Biscuits (7-5) pulled even in the seventh when Emeel Salem and Chris De La Cruz opened with consecutive doubles.
Before the game, the Lookouts added 33-year-old catcher Mike Rivera, who has played in 181 big-league games and recently signed a free-agent contract with the Dodgers. Rivera played 119 big-league games the past four seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers and took the roster spot of Alex Garabedian, who was placed on the disabled list.
Mario Alvarez (1-1, 7.45 ERA) is Chattanooga's scheduled starting pitcher for today's 11:15 a.m. game, with Jake McGee (0-1, 4.82) scheduled for Montgomery.