The heat index nearly touched 100 degrees Sunday afternoon at AT&T Field.
Which is almost as blistering as the Chattanooga Lookouts.
The Lookouts continued their surge out of the gate in the Southern League’s second half with a 9-5 topping of Birmingham. They are 5-1 and alone in first place in the North Division for the first time all season, and they’ve won 16 of 21 games dating back to June 5.
“This is the best team I’ve played on since I’ve been in the Dodger organization,” left fielder Andrew Lambo said. “It’s scary the kind of bats we’ve got and the pitching staff we’ve got. We’re doing a great job right now, and hopefully we can continue it and move forward.”
So scalding are the Lookouts that Jaime Pedroza, who was the 9-hole hitter Saturday night and didn’t even play Sunday, had an 8-for-15 (.533) series.
Chattanooga erupted Sunday for a first-inning touchdown by sending 11 to the plate, with Barons starting pitcher Johnnie Lowe facing 10 before getting pulled. The Lookouts tallied six of their nine hits in the first, which included Dee Gordon singling to left and tripling down the right-field line.
The Lookouts improved to 38-37 overall, the first time they’ve been over .500 from that aspect since they were 11-10 on April 29.
“We’ve got what it takes to compete at this level,” manager Carlos Subero said. “We’ve got the hitting, the power and the speed. Definitely the additions we have gotten from (Jerry) Sands, (Ramon) Nivar and (Kyle) Russell and also (Aaron) Miller on the pitching end have given us a stronger lineup.”
As soon as Chattanooga improved to 11-10, Lambo was suspended 50 games for violating Major League Baseball policy by testing positive for a drug of abuse. He came off the suspension this past Friday and collected his first RBI since his return with a first-inning single to right that scored Sands and put the Lookouts up 2-0.
Lambo rejoined a team that’s very different.
“I think at the beginning we were just trying to find ourselves a little bit,” he said. “One day it would be the offense, and the next day the pitching. We were missing that combo, but now the team chemistry is just out of this world. Everybody on this team gets along with everybody.”
Jessie Mier singled up the middle to score Corey Smith to make it 4-0, and that was followed by an Elian Herrera RBI single to right and Gordon’s triple that scored Mier and Herrera. The Lookouts didn’t rest on their 7-0 advantage, extending it to 8-0 when Sands led off the second inning with a home run to left.
Sands has hit three homers in four games since arriving in Double-A this past Thursday, and his average is .467.
Brent Leach allowed two runs in six innings to pick up his second victory of the series for the Lookouts, who realize they may have something special going but don’t want to get carried away.
“It’s so early,” Gordon said. “If we get halfway through the second half and are doing something, then maybe we could talk, but we’re just trying to play as a team. If you’re winning, you’re having fun, so we’re going to try and keep doing what we’ve got to do.”
The Lookouts are off today before beginning a six-game series in Huntsville on Tuesday. Mario Alvarez (4-3, 4.54) is scheduled to start the series opener for the Lookouts, with Mark Rogers (3-5, 3.58) scheduled for the Stars.