T.J. White, Zach Granite and Daniel Palka each tripled Wednesday night during Chattanooga's 6-2 victory over the Tennessee Smokies before a crowd of 2,139 at AT&T Field, but the Lookouts may need several more wins to erase the taste of a frustrating road trip.
The Lookouts entered Wednesday with the worst record in the Southern League after losing four of five in Jackson, where they fell 8 1/2 games back of the division-leading Generals.
"We have to right our own ship first before we start to worry about the standings," Chattanooga second-year manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "We had a chance to make a push in Jackson in the standings, but we played the exact same game five games in a row and expected a different outcome. It's the definition of insanity.
"Winning is the most key piece to development, and our whole organization is looking for a bright spot. We're not helping."
White's triple to center field in the third inning Wednesday scored Leo Reginatto and Stuart Turner, and Granite tripled to right later in the third to score White. Palka's sixth-inning triple to left-center scored Dalton Hicks.
Chattanooga was a season-worst seven games under .500 before improving to 20-26 with 24 games left in the first-half race.
"Right now, we're just trying to get better as a group," right fielder Travis Harrison said. "Obviously we know where we're at, but you can't worry about that. You just try to win every game and every inning and grind it out that way. We know there is plenty of time to get this going in the right direction to either get back in the first half, or maybe this year we have to win it in the second half.
"We've been through lulls before, but this one has been a little longer than we're used to."
Players said they rode back from Jackson in silence. The Lookouts lost a 2-0 fifth-inning lead on Thursday, a 2-0 seventh-inning lead on Saturday and a 3-1 sixth-inning lead on Sunday. The Generals polished off Chattanooga 7-0 Monday night.
"Everybody was frustrated coming home," Palka said. "We're definitely looking at the standings, but we're also grinding to get better."
Nick Greenwood (2-0, 3.60 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game on the mound for the Lookouts, with Duane Underwood (0-1, 4.91) scheduled for the Smokies.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.