Before the Chattanooga Lookouts played their first game this season, manager Carlos Subero promised an aggressive approach on the base path.
He delivered Wednesday night, successfully sending 235-pound Corey Smith home on a Scott Van Slyke fly ball to short left field in the eighth inning. Smith beat the throw by bewildered Birmingham left fielder John Shelby to tie the game 4-4, and Mike Rivera followed with a two-run double to right that clinched a 6-5 victory at AT&T Field.
“The past 20 games, we’ve kind of been pushing it really hard,” Subero said. “I think that was one thing on the road that got us out of our slump. It really kicked in when we were at Mississippi. We carried it over at West Tenn, and I think we’re following it up here.”
Chattanooga improved to 2-0 in the Southern League second half and 35-36 overall after winning for the 13th time in 17 games. The Barons dropped to 0-2 and 24-48, with 23 of those losses by one run.
Subero made the call for Smith to tag once Shelby and Barons center fielder Miguel Negron displayed early indecision about who would field the fly, which resulted in Shelby making the catch a little off balance. Shelby didn’t have nearly enough zip on the throw, making Smith look more like teammate Dee Gordon.