A ninth-inning home run by Kennys Vargas appeared to be simply the exclamation point on what was going to be a shutout victory for the Chattanooga Lookouts on Saturday night in Kodak, Tenn.
Vargas’ solo shot turned out to be very much needed.
The Lookouts spread their scoring out – they picked up one run each in the third, sixth, eighth and ninth innings – and withstood a bottom-of-the-ninth rally to beat the Tennessee Smokies 4-3.
The Lookouts (53-42) avoided a third straight loss to Tennessee (51-46) after the Smokies won 4-1 Thursday to split a two-game series at AT&T Stadium before also taking an 8-4 victory in Friday’s series opener at Smokies Park.
Vargas went 2-for-5 on Saturday, driving in two runs. In addition to the homer, he was credited with an RBI when Max Kepler scored on his groundout in the sixth. Kepler tripled to lead off the inning.