The Chattanooga Lookouts nearly played their way into the Southern League record book early Sunday morning at AT&T Field.
Chattanooga’s 2-1 victory in 21 innings over Birmingham came within two innings of matching the league mark set more than 44 years ago. Columbus and Savannah set the standard of 23 innings on April 14, 1973, with Huntsville and Greenville matching that length on Aug. 6, 1998.
An announced AT&T crowd of 5,520 attended the five-hour, 29-minute contest that officially ended 45 minutes past midnight. The audience was closer to 500 once the innings went deep into the teens.
“I told my staff after it was over that 14- and 15-inning games can be a drag, but when they get up to 19, 20 or 21, they become fun,” Lookouts general manager Rich Mozingo said Sunday afternoon. “It’s fun to be a part of something like that. We had kids running the bases at 10 minutes until 1.
“It was nuts, and I was very surprised.”
The Lookouts won the game in the 21st on four consecutive two-out walks by Toby Thomas, who served as a pinch runner, first baseman and pitcher for the Barons.
Birmingham scored in the first inning and maintained a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the ninth, when Jonathan Rodriguez singled to right field and was replaced by pinch runner Alex Perez, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Andy Wilkins then singled to right to score Perez, whose evening was far from over.
Perez remained in the game as the designated hitter and then as the second baseman before being called to the mound after Lookouts relief pitcher Luke Bard worked the 17th and 18th innings. Perez threw hitless 19th and 20th innings before moving back to second and being supplanted on the mound by Max Murphy, who had played in right field and center field.
Murphy was the winning pitcher of record.
Lookouts relief pitcher Todd Van Steensel did not play in the game but posted video clips on Twitter of fellow relievers Bard, Raul Fernandez, Ryan Eades and Randy LeBlanc at the plate with this message: “Last night, the Lookouts had four pitchers come up to hit. Please analyze their swings and vote on who looks the least ugly.”
Bard weighed in with a reply: “That Eades foul tip is one of the best I’ve seen. It will be talked about for years.”
The game produced multiple interesting stat lines. Lookouts shortstop and leadoff batter Nick Gordon’s average tumbled to .288 after going 1-for-9, while catcher Brian Navarreto went 0-for-8.
Though he spent the final 12 innings as a spectator, Lookouts starting pitcher Felix Jorge went nine innings, allowing four hits and the first-inning run.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.