Chattanooga’s four-game winning streak came to a close Wednesday night at AT&T Field, with the Lookouts dropping a 4-3 decision to the Jackson Generals.
Jackson broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh inning on Dario Pizzano’s double to center field that scored Carlton Tanabe and Tyler Smith. The Lookouts got within a run later in the seventh when Max Kepler singled to right and scored on a Byron Buxton groundout.
Chattanooga, which dropped to 13-12, was playing its first game since Monday’s 2-0 win over Jacksonville in which second baseman Levi Michael had to be helped off the field with a sprained ankle. Michael, who had the winning hit in Sunday’s 14-13 win over the Suns, was placed on the disabled list Wednesday.
“It hurts to see, especially an ankle injury,” Kepler said. “Levi had been swinging the bat well the last couple of weeks, and it just straight up stinks when something like that happens. Thank heavens it wasn’t worse.”
Said Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz: “Sometimes a sprained ankle is worse than a break, so we will have to wait and see. We just want him to get healthy and back playing again.”
The Lookouts are a tight-knit group quite familiar with one another, as every member of Wednesday’s starting lineup played last season in Fort Myers except third baseman Miguel Sano, who was scheduled to be in Fort Myers but underwent Tommy John surgery. Michael going on the DL and Kepler joining the team April 19 after a brief stint in Fort Myers are the most notable transactions of note so far on a team that is expected to stay intact for much of this season.
“You get a chance to teach the same kids the whole summer, which is more beneficial to what you’re trying to accomplish,” Mientkiewicz said. “At the same time, you can’t foresee the future and you don’t know when it’s all going to click for a kid. You don’t know about injuries.
“We all have a master plan when we leave camp, and more times than not it does not end up the way we planned because of injuries or poor performances or whatever. We just try to concentrate on who’s here now and get them better.”
Tyler Duffey (1-2, 3.31 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight’s 7:15 game on the mound for the Lookouts, with Michael Siverio (1-1, 2.11) scheduled for the Generals.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.