No two days are the same for this season's Chattanooga Lookouts.
Despite triples by Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Levi Michael and a towering home run by Miguel Sano that caromed off the scoreboard clock in left field, the Lookouts still trailed Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Then the Lookouts loaded the bases, Heiker Meneses drew a tying walk and Michael singled to left to clinch a 14-13 triumph.
Michael was quickly mobbed by teammates after rounding first base.
"That definitely was an interesting game," Michael said. "There were a lot of hits today, and there was a lot of back and forth. You never know what you're going to get with this team, and we never feel down in any situation because of the power we've got throughout our lineup."
Sunday's game, which took place before a healthy AT&T Field crowd of 3,359, contained five lead changes and has summed up the start to Chattanooga's season. The Lookouts raced out to a 5-1 record, slipped to 7-9 but are now 12-11.
"That's just us," Buxton said. "We'll have our struggles, and then we'll get hot and we'll get rolling. This is obviously a great team, and we've got good team chemistry.
"It's going to be an exciting and fun year."
The Suns took a 13-12 lead in the top of the ninth when Kenny Wilson tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly.
What's coming into focus for the Lookouts is that they have the ability to hit lots of triples -- five in the past two games. It's also quite clear that the feeling-out process of this year's team is far from over.
"Our staff knows these guys inside and out, but the level will dictate their roles," Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "We know what we had in A-ball, but we don't know what we have in Double-A. We'll keep running them out there, and I know our won-loss record has suffered, but we'll be better off in the long run by leaving some guys in during tighter situations when I could have made a move but didn't.
"Do I like where we're at? No, but I know what's inside these guys, and I know there is better baseball to be played."
Buxton and Kepler had their triples and Sano his two-run homer during a six-run third inning for the Lookouts that gave them a 6-3 lead. Jacksonville answered with a five-run fourth, which was highlighted by RBI doubles to center by Viosergy Rosa and David Adams.
Adam Walker's solo home run in the seventh inning put the Lookouts up 9-8, but Jacksonville scored four runs in the eighth and Chattanooga tallied three. Michael had three hits for Chattanooga, while Buxton, Walker, Kepler and Meneses had two apiece.
"We have some guys who are starting to come out of their early-season funks right now," Mientkiewicz said.
D.J. Baxendale (0-0, 1.07 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 series finale on the mound for the Lookouts, with Kendry Flores (1-2, 4.11) scheduled for the Suns.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.