The Chattanooga Lookouts left town late Saturday night with a healthy five-game lead in the Southern League North Division’s second-half race.
That’s good news for Carlos Subero and his club. What’s even better news is that the Lookouts will be on the road for 10 straight games.
Chattanooga, which is 21-14 this half and 56-49 overall, is five games under .500 this season at AT&T Field [25-30] but 12 games over on the road [31-19].
“It’s very unusual, and we’ve definitely noticed it,” Subero said. “Usually it’s the other way around. You can probably blame it on me for working them too hard at home.”
Will Savage helped the Lookouts improve their home mark Saturday by allowing one run in seven innings during a 3-2 win over Jackson before a crowd of 5,489. Scott Van Slyke hit a solo home run to right-center in the sixth inning to give Chattanooga a 3-1 advantage.
The Lookouts started tracking their home woes and road success last week on their erase board inside the clubhouse.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but at least we’re 12 over on the road,” right fielder Kyle Russell said. “We’ve got two important series coming up with first-place Mobile and then Jacksonville, so hopefully we can keep playing well.”
Lookouts pitching coach Chuck Crim doesn’t see a difference in how his staff performs at home or away.
“Granted, there are some easier parks to pitch on the road compared to this park,” Crim said. “The ball flies out of here, and there is rubber on the warning track, so once the ball hits off the wall — there are probably more doubles and triples here. But I don’t see any difference as far as how they pitch.”
Savage arrived Saturday from Oklahoma, where he and his wife just became first-time parents of a son. The 26-year-old struck out four Generals and didn’t yield a walk in improving to 11-3.
“He’s a true professional,” Crim said. “Now he’s got somebody else who is counting on him for support. I kind of like it, because guys feel that sense of urgency to treat this as their job now because their family depends on them.”
Michael Antonini (9-8, 3.77 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight’s 7:05 opener in Mobile, with Tyler Skaggs (2-1, 4.02) scheduled for the BayBears.