The Chattanooga Lookouts defeated the Jackson Generals 4-2 Friday night at AT&T Field, breaking a 2-2 tie in the ninth inning when Max Kepler’s one-out single to center field was followed by Stuart Turner’s home run to left-center.
Zack Jones got the win for the Lookouts, pitching a hitless ninth inning after starter Jose Berrios allowed three hits and two runs in eight innings and struck out eight.
Chattanooga improved to 15-12 and is 2-0 with Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan in the house. Ryan attended Thursday night’s 10-4 win by the Lookouts and was a guest Friday afternoon on “Press Row” on ESPN 105.1 FM.
Q: How important are this year’s Lookouts for the future of the Twins?
A: “Everybody who knows us understands that we scout, develop and promote from within, and that those philosophies are embedded in us. Obviously there are a lot of players here who have a future with us.”
Q: The nucleus of the 2015 Lookouts won last year’s Florida State League title. Would you like to keep them together as much as possible?
A: “I do believe that helps, but it’s not the ultimate goal. We move guys because we think they’re ready and because they perform and get down to business. Familiarity does breed success with a lot of these guys, and we’ve even moved the manager up here with them, but I think that’s more happenstance.”
Q: The Twins went from six playoff appearances in nine years to four straight losing seasons. What happened?
A: “It’s been baseball decisions, and I am taking responsibility, because we have not done a very good job. We’ve scored enough, and our bullpen is fairly decent, but our rotation over the last four years didn’t give us a good enough chance to win games.
“We’ve got plenty of money to able to compete, and our new stadium has allowed us to generate revenue that we didn’t have with the Metrodome.”
Q: Alex Rodriguez is now fourth on the all-time home run chart. Does he deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?
A: “History says probably not, because he’s a PED user. I don’t think any of those guys have gotten in or have gotten close to getting in.”
Q: Lookouts reliever D.J. Johnson was penalized for a pitch-clock violation this week. Are you for or against pitch clocks?
A: “I’m for them, because the game needs to move along. It got to a point where we were losing our fan base, because people didn’t want to sit for three hours and 20 minutes to watch a 2-1 game.
“We’ve done something about it, and D.J. Johnson will not be the last guy to get a ball called on him.”
Q: If you’re on second base and Byron Buxton is at the plate, who would get home first?
A: “I would, and there’s no doubt. To be a good baserunner, you don’t necessarily have to be fast. Buxton is one of the fastest players in the game of baseball and maybe the fastest, but if you’re on second and doing what you’re supposed to, you’re going to get a decent lead.”
Q: Who is the best manager in Twins history — Tom Kelly, Ron Gardenhire or Billy Heywood from “Little Big League”?
A: “Tom Kelly won a couple of World Series and Gardy was an excellent manager for the length that we had him. We’ve got a guy right now we like a lot in Paul Molitor, but we’ve had a lot of stability in that chair.
“Kelly won a World Series for us when we were going through that revenue problem and our payroll was not very high.”
Q: What is your favorite Twins team?
A: “I was a scouting director with the ’87 club, and that team came out of nowhere. (Kirby) Puckett put us on his shoulders, and that’s the first time we had done much in the postseason. That was as good a ride as any team could have experienced.”
Q: Who’s the best GM in baseball?
A: “I would say (Dave) Dombrowski with the Tigers is one of the best. I have a lot of respect for him. He gets it done. He’s organized. He’s fair, and he’s a good guy to deal with.
“There is a reason why the Expos and the Marlins and the Tigers have had success when he’s there.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.