The Chattanooga Lookouts settled in at the plate in the seventh inning Friday night.
Josh Wheeler had been quite comfortable on the mound for some time by then.
Wheeler scattered four hits and a walk while striking out nine in seven innings, and the Lookouts helped make his exit comfortable with a three-run seventh in their 4-0 win against Birmingham at AT&T Field.
Birmingham (5-11) didn't put a runner in scoring position until the sixth, when Adam Engel went from first to third on Eudy Pina's two-out, line-drive single to right field. Wheeler (1-1) produced a groundout to end the inning, and when Jake Peter doubled to center with one out in the seventh, he struck out the next batter and exited with a groundout.
Wheeler, a fourth-year pro who finished last season with the Lookouts, threw 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes Friday. He lowered his ERA to 1.88 in four starts this season.
Marcus Walden worked the final two innings of the shutout, walking one and allowing a hit while striking out two.
Chattanooga (6-10) sent eight batters to the plate in the seventh, when Shannon Wilkerson had a ground-rule double to score Dalton Hicks, who led off with a single and stole second. Engelb Vielma and Travis Harrison added RBI singles in the inning. Wheeler had pitched with a lead since the third, when Zach Granite's double scored Vielma.
Granite finished 2-for-3 with two doubles, and Hicks, Vielma and Wilkerson each went 2-for-3 as well.
The second game of the five-game series is at 7:15 tonight at AT&T. The Lookouts, last year's Southern League champions, are trying to win a series for the first time this year after dropping road series at Biloxi and Mississippi and a home series against Jackson.