For a while Friday, it looked as though the Birmingham Barons were going to have the most baserunners in their Southern League baseball game at Chattanooga's AT&T Field, but not the most runs. But single runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings changed all that.
Lookouts errors played a role when Birmingham tied the game in the sixth and went ahead in the seventh, and the Barons defeated Chattanooga 5-4 in front of a crowd of 2,326.
The Lookouts (5-2) led 4-2 going to the fifth inning of the game that was delayed starting by 31 minutes because of rain. Jason Coates had a one-out double that inning for the Barons, and when Adrian Nieto drew a two-out walk, it marked the end of the night for Chattanooga starter Jose Berrios.
Berrios struck out nine in his 4 2/3 innings of work but gave up eight hits and three walks and hit a batter. When Jeremy Farrell greeted reliever Jake Reed with a run-scoring single, it was the third run, all earned, charged to Berrios, who threw 107 pitches.
"We fell behind everybody all night long," Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz said of the ball-strike counts. "That set the tone. We've been fortunate, however many games we've played, to get that many quality starts in a row."
Tim Anderson began Birmingham's sixth, reaching on an infield single and taking third on a throwing error when he stole second. Jacob May's groundout drove him in with the tying run.
Nieto, who walked for a second time, scored the go-ahead run the next inning when Ferrell grounded to Miguel Sano at third and Sano threw wildly to first. Chattanooga had three throwing errors.
"It was tough conditions," Mientkiewicz said. "The ball was wet. We're still getting used to the field. My guys didn't exactly hustle after the ball, either. We need the rain to stay away so we can get on the field and clean up a few things."
The Barons took the lead early when May doubled with one out in the first and Courtney Hawkins followed with a home run.
Sano provided the Lookouts' offense for the night with a one-out grand slam in the third.
Chattanooga left four runners on base. Birmingham (3-4) stranded 11.
Reliever Migueld Chalas (1-0) was the winning pitcher. J.B. Wendelken pitched the eighth and ninth for his first save.
Nick Burdi (0-2) took the loss.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.