MONTGOMERY, Ala.- The Biscuits (34-31) lost to the Chattanooga Lookouts (38-27) for the fifth-straight night, falling to their North Division rivals by a score of 9-8 Tuesday night at Riverwalk Stadium. The Biscuits have now lost 10 of their last 11 games to Chattanooga, and were swept by the Lookouts
MONTGOMERY, Ala.- The Biscuits (34-31) lost to the Chattanooga Lookouts (38-27) for the fifth-straight night, falling to their North Division rivals by a score of 9-8 Tuesday night at Riverwalk Stadium. The Biscuits have now lost 10 of their last 11 games to Chattanooga, and were swept by the Lookouts for the first time since August of 2014.
Biscuits starter Hunter Wood (4-4) retired six of the seven batters he faced to cruise through the first two innings, but then Chattanooga finally got to him in the third and that is when things started to fall apart. Wood finished allowing four runs on six hits while walking four and striking out nine in a no-decision. It was the third time this season Wood has pitched exactly six innings.
Montgomery got on the board early thanks to an RBI-single to right from Cade Gotta and a sac fly by Justin Williams, off Chattanooga starter Dereck Rodríguez, to put the Biscuits up 2-0. Rodriguez allowed four runs on four hits while striking out three in a no-decision. In the second, the Biscuits loaded the bases, and then Joe McCarthy spanked an RBI-single to center, before Gotta stepped in with Riley Unroe 90 feet away and drew a walk to give Montgomery a 4-0 lead.
Chattanooga would respond in a big way in the third, when Lamonte Wade hit an RBI-double to center to make it a 4-2 game, and then in the third Ryan Walker smashed an RBI-triple to deep right field to cut it to just one, 4-3. Jonathan Rodriguez would tie the game at 4-4 in the fourth with an RBI-single, but it wouldn't last long, as Justin O'Conner smashed a solo shot that bounced off the top of the railing in left, his sixth of the season, to make it 5-4.
Fernando Baez entered in the seventh and threw a scoreless inning to help maintain a one-run advantage for Montgomery, before handing the reigns over to Brad Schreiber in the eighth. Walker led off the eighth inning with a single and stole second to advance into scoring position, and then Nick Gordon swatted an RBI-single for his second hit of the night to tie the game at 5-5.
Kyle Winkler retired the first two hitters he faced in the ninth and the Biscuits were cruising, until Michael Russell committed both a fielding error and a throwing error to allow Dan Rohlfing to get second. Andrew Velazquez would commit a throwing error of his own, the third of the inning, as Chattanooga took a 6-5 lead, but with their backs against the wall, Unroe smashed an RBI-triple to right to send the game into extras.
Biscuits reliever Tyler Brashears and Lookouts reliever John Curtiss would keep the game scoreless heading into the 11th, but a two-run triple from Walker and an RBI-double from Gordon would give the Lookouts a 9-6 advantage. Curtiss extended his innings streak without allowing a earned run to 23, before the Biscuits loaded the bases and brought across two runs on groundouts by Granden Goeztman and Gotta.
The Biscuits are now 4-11 in 15 games against the Lookouts this season and are no longer in contention to win the first-half title, as they are four games behind the Lookouts for first in the North Division with just five left to play. They will head to Pearl, Mississippi tomorrow to take on the Braves, where right-hander Benton Moss (0-1) will take the hill against righty Tyler Pike (0-0) Wednesday night at Trustmark Park at 7:00 PM.
