On a busy day of off-the-field moves for the Chattanooga Lookouts, Tim Sexton pitched a gem Monday night at AT&T Field and the club earned its third straight win.
Two fourth-inning defensive gifts from the Carolina Mudcats gave the Lookouts the lead, and Sexton did the rest in a 3-0 victory that moved the Lookouts out of last place in the Southern League North Division.
The Lookouts (25-32) moved into fourth in the North, while the Mudcats (25-33) dropped to fifth.
Sexton (3-5) struck out 10 in six innings, allowing four hits and no walks.
“Being able to get ahead was getting me the strikeouts,” said Sexton, who turns 23 Thursday. “I was able to keep the ball down and get that first strike in there.”
Sexton, reliever David Pfeiffer and Lookouts closer Kenley Jansen totaled 13 strikeouts in a four-hitter. The hard-throwing Jansen walked two batters in the ninth, on eight straight balls that were low, but got the save as the Lookouts clinched the series.
“Pfeiffer gave us two good innings, and it was a good game all around,” Lookouts manager Carlos Subero said.
Before the game, the Lookouts announced the promotion of highly rated outfielder Kyle Russell to Chattanooga. Russell, a third-round pick in 2008, is rated by Baseball America as the No. 12 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He hit .354 with 16 home runs and 53 RBIs for high Single-A Inland Empire.
Infielder Ramon Nivar was sent down to the Lookouts from Class AAA Albuquerque, while catcher Alex Garabedian and outfielder Tommy Giles were reassigned to Inland Empire. In addition, the Lookouts placed pitcher Javy Guerra on the seven-day disabled list and activated pitcher Cole St. Clair from the temporarily inactive list.
Nivar, who played in 45 games for the Lookouts last season, was hitting .271 at Albuquerque.
Russell arrived in Chattanooga during the game but did not play. He is expected to be in the lineup tonight. Nivar started at third base, batting fifth, and went 1-for-4 with a run scored.
The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth, when Corey Smith was hit by a Scott Carroll pitch to start the inning and Nivar singled past the second baseman, and both players advanced on a fielding error.
Scott Van Slyke flied out to center and Smith bluffed tagging from third, but he got too far down the third-base line and found himself in a rundown. However, an error by third baseman Mike Costanzo allowed Smith to score and Nivar to move to third.
Nivar put the Lookouts up 2-0 moments later when he scored on a Mike Rivera groundout.
Carroll (1-2) gave the Mudcats about all they could have hoped for, allowing just three hits in seven innings, with four walks and two strikeouts. The Lookouts added an insurance run in the eighth when Smith drove in Trayvon Robinson from second.
Chris Withrow (1-3, 5.60 ERA) is the Lookouts’ scheduled pitcher for tonight’s 7:15 game, with Tom Cochran (2-2, 2.94) scheduled for the Mudcats.