The current group of Chattanooga Lookouts basically has been together for a few years under the guidance of manager Doug Mientkiewicz as they’ve climbed through baseball’s minor leagues to the Class AA level. Monday at AT&T Field they faced a familiar mound opponent in Montgomery’s Blake Snell, but experience proved to be no help.
But the 22-year-old Snell is used to having success, particularly recently. With his six shutout innings in the Biscuits’ 4-2 victory over the Lookouts in front of a day-game crowd of 3,834, the left-hander extended his scoreless-innings streak to 49 dating back to his last start in 2014.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Snell (3-0) is now up to 25 scoreless innings against Southern League competition since being promoted in late April from the Class A Port Charlotte (Fla.) Stone Crabs. With singles in the fourth and sixth innings, Jorge Polanco had both Chattanooga hits off Snell, who walked three. In both instances Polanco advanced to third base with one out, and each time Snell came up with one of his six strikeouts.
“He’s got a good fastball, a good slider, a good changeup,” Mientkiewicz said. “We’ve seen him before. We saw him last year a lot. The kid has got a great future.”
The North-leading Lookouts (23-15) have been limited to one and two runs in the last two games against Montgomery (17-21), both losses. Mientkiewicz, whose team was 14-2 in May before Sunday’s game, isn’t overly concerned about his team’s offense based on the last two days.