Jonathan Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and three runs scored as the Chattanooga Lookouts defeated the visiting Birmingham Barons 7-2 at AT&T Field on Friday night.
The Lookouts, first-half North Division champions of the Southern League, went to 67-37 for the season in maintaining their second-half lead. They outhit the Barons 12-4 and led 3-1 when the game was interrupted by rain in the bottom of the fifth inning. Chattanooga quickly made it 4-1 when plan resumed and added three runs in the sixth.
Rodriguez had what turned out to be the winning hit with his two-out solo homer in the third. Levi Michael and Brian Navarreto added back-to-back homers with two outs in the fourth, and – after Birmingham’s Jose Vinicio singled in Brett Austin – Rodriguez led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and eventually scored on Ryan Walker’s two-out single.
Navarreto walked, Nick Gordon doubled and LaMonte Wade was intentionally walked in the sixth, but T.J. White followed two outs with a three-run triple.
Wilkins, Walker and Michael each was 2-for-4 for Chattanooga, and Fernando Romero was the winning pitcher with five innings of three-hit, nine-strikeout work. Three relievers added eight strikeouts.