The Chattanooga Lookouts have been anything but streaky this season.
Hoping to notch a three-game winning streak for the first time this season, Chattanooga fell 10-9 in 11 innings Tuesday night to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos before an announced crowd of 3,743 at AT&T Field. Phillip Ervin opened the 11th inning with a home run to left-center field, which proved to be the difference.
Chattanooga Lookouts logo, blue background"We have new players every three days, so it's been hard to get the guys into any kind of rhythm," Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "It's been hard to get the guys to buy into what we're trying to get done. It's been a hard five weeks, but we're starting to see signs of guys starting to put it together a little bit.
"For a while there, our whole lineup was struggling. Hopefully when the big-league team calms down, it will start to calm down for everybody else, too."
The only three-game losing streak for the Lookouts occurred in the first week of the season and left them with a 1-5 record. They are now 14-18 following Tuesday night's three-hour, 38-minute marathon.
Chattanooga trailed 8-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning but pulled within 8-5 on Mitch Garver's two-run double to right. The Lookouts pulled even with two runs in the eighth, tying the game on a D.J. Hicks double to right that scored Shannon Wilkerson.
Pensacola took a 9-8 lead in the ninth inning on Brandon Dixon's single to center that scored Ervin, but the Lookouts tied it again when a throwing error by Blue Wahoos catcher Joe Hudson on a Ryan Walker steal attempt at second base enabled Walker to come all the way home.
"I feel like we're trending in the right direction," Lookouts catcher Stuart Turner said. "We haven't been able to string numerous games in a row, but we haven't done the opposite as well. It's a new team and a new group of guys, but I think we'll be all right going forward."
The latest Lookouts move of note involves relief pitcher J.T. Chargois, who has been promoted to Triple-A Rochester (N.Y.). Chargois had a 1.54 earned run average in 11 appearances and led the team with seven saves.
Who steps up now?
"Good question, because right now we're short in the bullpen," Mientkiewicz said. "We're just trying to weather the storm and do the best we can with what we've got right now."
Omar Bencomo (1-1, 3.27 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game on the mound for the Lookouts, with Rookie Davis (3-1, 0.93) scheduled for the Blue Wahoos.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.