Hitting coach John Valentin replaced manager Carlos Subero as third-base coach Wednesday afternoon for the Chattanooga Lookouts, but it was more of the same.
The Lookouts lost 8-2 in their series opener against Huntsville at AT&T Field, which followed 7-2 and 9-1 setbacks to close out the series earlier this week against Carolina. The sudden hiccup has the Lookouts searching for answers, especially after they tallied 15 runs in the two games preceding this apathetic skid.
“I’m trying to figure it out myself,” Valentin said. “We’re trying to get in good hitter’s counts, and we’re doing that. We’re getting some off-speed pitches in those counts, and we’re not really being patient enough to lay off those pitches. When you swing at off-speed pitches and the pitcher is keeping you off-balance, you’re not really going to do much damage.
“We had 10 hits today, but they were scattered. We had nothing really damaging with men on base and stuff, and they hit two home runs. They did the damage today.”
Chattanooga dropped to 9-7 in the Southern League second half and has lost three straight for the first time since dropping four in a row to West Tenn from May 31 to June 3.
Trayvon Robinson and Jerry Sands each went 2-for-4 and Andrew Lambo drove in two runs, but that didn’t stack up to Steffan Wilson’s three-run homer in the sixth inning and Taylor Green’s two-run blast in the eighth. Wilson’s shot to left occurred with two out and put Huntsville ahead to stay at 4-2.
“We’re just not getting the little things done,” Sands said. “We had 10 hits today and scored two runs, so we’ve got to get guys in scoring position and get them in. Even if we are seeing some good pitching, we’ve seen it all year. We’ve just got to bear down a little bit and get the little things done.”
The Lookouts caught a break in the second inning when Green’s sharp grounder headed for right-center struck the hip of first-base umpire Will Little. Zelous Wheeler was about to round third and score the first run for the Stars, but the dead ball forced him back to second.
Huntsville broke through in the third inning when Brett Lawrie drew a one-out walk, took third on Caleb Gindl’s single to right and scored on Drew Anderson’s sacrifice to left. That lead would be short-lived, however, as Lambo’s two-out single to right later that inning scored Dee Gordon and Sands to give the Lookouts a 2-1 advantage.
Wilson’s homer came at the expense of Lookouts relief pitcher David Pfeiffer, as did Green’s shot to left-center.
Brent Leach (3-1, 5.75) is scheduled to start tonight’s 7:15 game for the Lookouts, with Michael Bowman (7-7, 5.82) scheduled for the Stars.