Dereck Rodriguez, Raul Fernandez, Todd Van Steensel and Nick Anderson combined on the shutout as the Chattanooga Lookouts routed Jacksonville 7-0 Saturday night before a crowd of 3,127 at AT&T Field.
Rodriguez, Fernandez and Van Steensel combined to strike out 13 Jumbo Shrimp batters.
The Lookouts got plenty of offense from designated hitter Jonathan Rodriguez, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. Rodriguez improved his season average to .310.
Chattanooga took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Nick Gordon drew a leadoff walk and scored on Rodriguez’s double to left field. The Lookouts made it 2-0 in the third inning on a Rodriguez home run to left, and a Gordon single to left in the fourth scored Travis Harrison to put them up 3-0.
It was 5-0 in the seventh when T.J. White launched a two-run homer to left-center.
The sizzling Lookouts improved to 18-5 in the Southern League’s second half and t0 60-33 overall. The same two teams will collide this afternoon at 5:15, with Fernando Romero (7-6, 2.78 ERA) scheduled to start on the mound for the Lookouts and Chris Mazza (1-5, 3.11) for the Jumbo Shrimp.