The Chattanooga Lookouts put their hottest pitcher and hottest hitter on display in what became a painstakingly long Monday night at AT&T Field.
Ethan Martin pitched five scoreless innings and Blake Smith continued his torrid stretch at the plate, but it took Pedro Baez scoring on a wild pitch with two out in the 12th inning to give the Lookouts a 3-2 victory over Huntsville. Had the Stars recorded the third out and the game remained 2-2, it would have been called due to lateness and would not have counted since the two teams don't play again in the first half.
A rain delay of an hour and 17 minutes and the extra innings contributed to a marathon that ended at 12:50 this morning. Chattanooga was within an out of winning in the ninth when Huntsville's Kentrail Davis tripled to center off Logan Bawcom to score Hunter Morris.
The streaking Lookouts won four of five against the Stars and improved to 22-23, getting within a game of .500 for the first time since they were 10-11 on April 25.
Martin took a no-hitter into the seventh inning during his last AT&T start on May 10 and allowed just two hits Monday before being replaced by Javier Solano. A 22-year-old from Toccoa, Ga., Martin tallied five strikeouts but also walked four batters in racking up 102 pitches.
The Lookouts took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Luis Nunez and J.T. Wise hit consecutive two-out doubles, and Smith got things going in the sixth with a double off the right-field wall. Pedro Baez followed with an RBI single to right to make it 2-0, and the rain came moments later.
Allen Webster made his third consecutive relief appearance for the Lookouts, working the seventh inning and loading the bases with two out before coming away unscathed.
Before Monday's game, the Southern League announced that Smith had been selected as its hitter of the week. The 24-year-old Californian had eight hits in 18 at-bats (.444) in six games last week, tallying two doubles, a triple, two home runs and 11 RBIs.
The Lookouts are off today before hosting the Jacksonville Suns on Wednesday night. Aaron Miller (2-4, 5.65 ERA) is scheduled to start the opener for Chattanooga, with Jose Alvarez (1-1, 4.23) scheduled for the Suns.