Chattanooga Lookouts shred Braves to slow slide

photo Chattanooga Lookouts logo

The Chattanooga Lookouts could use a redo, but coaches and players insist they're not thinking in those terms.

They went out and proved it Thursday night.

Chattanooga produced its second-highest scoring output of the season in a 15-4 whipping of Mississippi at AT&T Field. It was just the second win in a week for the Lookouts, who are 18-28 in the Southern League's first half and 12 games back of Huntsville in the North Division.

The Lookouts have 24 more first-half games before all 10 league teams start anew on June 19 with 0-0 records.

"We're not in this to redo anything," Lookouts manager Razor Shines said. "We're not going to redo our development process. We're going to continue it, and we're going to be better than when we started. Everybody in here competes, so you obviously look at the standings, but we are developing and coming along correctly.

"When it's all said and done, we'll look at the standings and I think be very pleased."

The Lookouts are on pace to have one of their worst first-half performances since moving to AT&T Field before the 2000 season. They were 29-41 during the first half in 2007 and 27-42 in the first half in 2005.

Since going 35-35 during the first half of last season, the Lookouts are 42-73.

"We get those innings where we show a lot of promise, especially at the end of games against some really good pitching," right fielder Brian Cavazos-Galvez said. "It just shows we have the talent and ability but that things aren't going our way right now."

So will the redo help?

"We're just trying to take one game at a time, but in the back of our mind we know that we will have a clean slate to work with," Cavazos-Galvez said. "In a way, it almost works out better, because the hotter team going into the playoffs most of the time is the one that comes out ahead. So hopefully this can line us up right."

The Lookouts had things lined up Thursday, getting a Ryan Adams two-out single to center field in the second inning that scored Daniel Mayora, Noel Cuevas and Darnell Sweeney to stake a 5-1 lead. The Braves pulled within 5-4 in the fourth inning, but Sweeney had an answer later in the fourth with a grand slam to right.

"We just try to come out of here with the same attitude and the same approach every day and continue to trust the process that we're all going through," first baseman O'Koyea Dickson said. "Some days are better than others, but you've got to keep grinding and keep a positive attitude. You can't let this game beat you up, because this game can find you out on that field.

"The greatest thing about baseball is that every day is a new day."

Braves shift rotation

Mississippi has moved up J.R. Graham (0-2, 4.40 ERA) to start tonight's game and Jason Hursh (3-3, 3.45) to start Saturday night's game. Graham is rated by Baseball America as the No. 3 prospect in Atlanta's organization, while Hursh is rated No. 4.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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