The dimensions of AT&T Field are 330 feet down the left-field line, 400 feet in straightaway center and 325 feet down the right-field line.
Not that the Chattanooga Lookouts came close to testing those measurements Monday night in a 3-0 loss to West Tenn.
Diamond Jaxx pitchers tallied 10 strikeouts, with starter Mauricio Robles accounting for nine, and allowed Chattanooga just three hits, two of which were infield singles. The Lookouts were playing on little sleep, having arrived Monday morning at 5:30 from Jacksonville.
“We could have slept all day, and we still would have had 10 Ks,” Lookouts hitting coach John Valentin said. “We faced a potential big-leaguer in that lefty. When you’re throwing your off-speed pitches for strikes and you’re throwing 95 miles per hour, it’s going to be a tough night, even for guys who can hit.”
The Lookouts dropped to 22-29 before a crowd of 5,017, the seventh AT&T crowd this season to surpass 5,000.
Robles is rated by Baseball America as the No. 13 prospect in the Seattle Mariners organization and continued West Tenn’s sizzling stretch on the mound. In winning three consecutive games, the Diamond Jaxx have not allowed a walk.
Trayvon Robinson had Chattanooga’s lone bright spot at the plate when he doubled to left field with two out in the sixth inning. He advanced to third on a wild pitch, giving Lookouts manager Carlos Subero the only company he had all night, before Robles got Corey Smith to foul out.
“That’s probably the third-best pitcher we’ve faced all year, and we’re like 50 games into it,” Robinson said. “The best pitchers we’ve faced are probably (Mississippi’s) Mike Minor and (Tennessee’s) Andrew Cashner, and he comes right after that. He’s got good stuff.”
Lookouts starting pitcher Jesus Castillo struck out the side with 12 pitches in the first inning, but he allowed three hits, one walk and hit a batter on 26 pitches in the second. Johan Limonta got West Tenn (27-23) going in the second with a double to center and scored on Dustin Ackley’s single to right.
The Diamond Jaxx made it 2-0 later in the second on Kuo Hui Lo’s infield hit with the bases loaded.
Timothy Sexton (2-4, 4.86 ERA) is the Lookouts’ scheduled starting pitcher for tonight’s 7:15 game, with Michael Pineda (4-1, 2.32) scheduled for the Diamond Jaxx.
Rough debut
John Koronka, who went 0-3 with a 4.95 ERA in seven starts with the Lookouts, was promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque over the weekend and endured a rough debut Monday. Koronka allowed eight runs on seven hits and a walk in a little over an inning — resulting in a 54.00 ERA — in Albuquerque’s 11-0 loss in Memphis.
His departure follows the May 22 release of relief pitcher Harvey Garcia and leaves the Lookouts with one player (catcher Mike Rivera) with big-league time.