In a game that had a little bit of everything and took a lifetime to play, the Carolina Mudcats topped the Chattanooga Lookouts 12-11 in 12 innings Thursday night at AT&T Field.
A Miguel Rojas sacrifice to right in the 12th brought home Neftali Soto, who led off the inning with a triple. Thursday's game ended in a sloth-like four hours and 52 minutes, marking the fourth consecutive contest at AT&T Field to go 3:28 or longer.
The Lookouts loaded the bases with nobody out in the 11th but couldn't capitalize, ruining an Alfredo Silverio double that enabled him to hit for the cycle.
Carolina grabbed an 11-8 lead in the top of the ninth inning on consecutive home runs by Cody Puckett and Bill Rhinehart, but the Lookouts (31-21) answered with a Silverio two-run triple to right-center and an Alex Castellanos two-out RBI double to right-center. Silverio's second triple of the night was his 16th this season.
The night's most memorable moment occurred in the fifth inning, when Chattanooga shortstop Jake Lemmerman led off with a line drive into the left-field corner that ricocheted away from Puckett. The ball started rolling alongside the wall toward left-center, and Lemmerman rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
According to longtime Lookouts announcer Larry Ward and longtime official scorer Wirt Gammon Jr., Lemmerman is believed to have produced Chattanooga's first such home run in AT&T Field's 11-year history.
Chattanooga's three-run ninth negated a troubling start by Chris Withrow, who allowed five runs in the second inning via three singles, two doubles, a walk and a wild pitch. The Lookouts pulled within 9-8 in the eighth inning on an Elian Herrera homer to right-center and a Scott Van Slyke single to left that scored Silverio.
Van Slyke and Silverio each finished 5-for-7 at the plate.
Will Savage (12-4, 3.56), who leads the Southern League in wins, is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game for the Lookouts opposite Carolina's Pedro Villareal (5-3, 5.15).