Smokies Series Recap: Chattanooga Lookouts vs Knoxville Smokies

Cooper Smith

KNOXVILLE, TN — The first of three home series against Chattanooga began on Tuesday and closed Sunday. There was plenty to look out for between two squads separated by just 112 miles. Starting pitching and late heroics for Chattanooga, compared to a shootout victory and a Sunday series close win for Knoxville. Six games, four to the Lookouts, two to the Smokies, and a whole summer still awaits.

Game 1: Blanked Back Home

Nick Dean made his second start of the season on Tuesday. Dean allowed six of his seven base runners in the frame with the two big swings coming from the bats of Alexander Vargas plating two, and Leo Balcazar driving in another two runs.

Knoxville stranded seven runners against José Acuña, as the right-hander picked up his second win of the season.

If you’re a fan of electric stuff out of the bullpen, Tuesday delivered. Dawson Netz spun it well, recording nine key outs and lowering his ERA to 1.08. Vince Reilly and Tyler Ras combined for the final three innings out of the bullpen for the Smokies. The issue for Knoxville? Chattanooga’s relievers were just as sharp, firing four scoreless innings. The Lookouts rode a four-run second to a 4–0 win to open the series.

Game 2: Day Game Turns Dark in Late Innings

After a promising first inning uppercut, the Smokies claimed their first lead since last Friday against Pensacola. Owen Ayers cashed in the first run of the game with a liner up the middle. Devin Ortiz added another with a sacrifice fly to right.

Both squads would swap runs until the fifth when an Andy Garriola single knocked in Ed Howard giving Knoxville a 4-3 lead. Yenrri Rojas and Luis Rujano combined to punch out nine Lookout batters through six frames only allowing three earned runs.

Top of the eighth, and everything went right for Chattanooga. Two free passes to open the frame, followed by a handful of seeing-eye singles, helped the Lookouts plate a five-spot. The Southern League leaders found their late-inning spark the hard way—five hits, all singles, none leaving the infield—but that’s baseball. The Smokies drop their fourth straight, falling 8–4.

Game 3: Not So Thirsty Thursday

Knoxville starter Grant Kipp toed the tape for his fourth start of the year. After back-to-back Southern League Pitcher of the Week awards, the Lookouts bats proved Kipp was human. Chattanooga slapped six hits off of Kipp and he issued four walks. All five earned runs came before the sun completely set at Covenant Health Park.

Austin Hendrick’s heater continued into Thursday with two more hits, giving him five in the first three games of the series. Cam Collier, who was troublesome at the dish on Wednesday, drove in three including a two out triple to extend the lead to 5-1 at the time.

Despite the loss on the scoreboard it was a winning night for Andy Garriola. Garriola reached base three times on Thursday, including two taters, a solo shot in the second and a two run bomb in the fifth. The Lookouts win their seventh straight game by a final of 6-4.

Game 4: Going, Going, Garriola!... Again!

It was punch and counterpunch like a great heavyweight fight in Game 4, so you’d better keep track of the home run count. It started with Ethan Hearn, who launched his first homer of the season in the second inning. Chattanooga answered with a left jab in the top of the third, plating two. Then came Knoxville’s counter—first the slip, as Owen Ayers connected for his first Double-A homer, followed by the right hook: Edgar Alvarez’s third of the year, driving in two to make it 5–2.

Chattanooga did not go away, Zavier Warren hit a three run big fly putting the Lookouts up late in the eighth, a tough blow to the body of Knoxville. An Owen Ayers walk with the bases loaded made it 7–7, and then the two-homer man from the night before stepped into the box at Covenant Health Park. With two outs, Andy Garriola went grand—his third homer of the series—giving Knoxville an 11–7 lead that proved to be the knockout blow. Vince Reilly stumbled and allowed two runs in the ninth but held the lead intact in what was, so far, a season-classic win in Knoxville. Final score, 11–9.

Game 5: Starters Tell the Story on Saturday

It has been a tough go for Smokies starters 20 games into the season, which continued on Saturday. Tyler Schlaffler could not find a consistent arm slot throughout his nine outs of work. Schlaffler was responsible for seven baserunners in those three innings, four via the walk. The lefty allowed four earned runs in his fourth start. Cam Collier, Cincinnati's fifth overall prospect in their system, added his sixth RBI of the series alone with a sac fly in the first. Carlos Jorge would walk, scoring one, and a rare error by Knoxville's infield would plate two more in the second, giving Chattanooga a 4-0 lead after two.

Credit Chattanooga opener Nate Peterson for the lack of scoring by the Smokies in the early innings. Knoxville would scrape one across on Peterson thanks to an Alex Ramirez single in the home third. That would be all the scoring, as Peterson finished his fourth outing of the season with six strikeouts over five innings of work, lowering his season ERA to 0.93.

Following the sloppy start from Schlaffler, the East Tennessee bullpen picked up their starter, firing six frames of one-run ball. Marino Santy was first out of the reliever station, followed by Luis Rujano and Dawson Netz. Santy and Netz would punch out seven Lookouts in their four innings, with Netz dropping his ERA under one and Santy continuing his work of run-less baseball. The Knoxville staff would strike out 13 hitters in the 5-4 loss after another late comeback attempt fell short.

Game 6: Smokies Winner in Series Closer

Knoxville went with a not-so-Knoxville strategy on Sunday. The Smokies used Vince Reilly, who had seven appearances out of the pen, as an opener for a different look—only the second opener used this season by the Smokies. Safe to say it worked well, with Nick Dean shoving from innings two through five. Dean retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, striking out five.

The Smokies’ bats were led by the leadoff man Alex Alvarez, who had a monster day at the dish, knocking in three and going 4-for-5 with seven total bases. His homer came in a crucial situation early in the ballgame, securing the lead for the Smokies, who never looked back. Seven unanswered by Knoxville is a huge pick-me-up, looking back at how some of these games shook out in this series. Knoxville added on late with a four-run eighth, highlighted by singles from Ariel Armas and Alex Ramirez.

The pen, again, continued to amaze on Sunday. Entering the final day of the series, the Knoxville relievers had accumulated 110.1 innings pitched in 20 games, good for the most in Double-A baseball. Dean’s promising outing added to that, along with a combined four innings from Frankie Scalzo Jr. and Luis Martinez-Gomez. The two sent down a total of seven Lookouts via the chair and allowed just one hit between them. Knoxville clinched the series finale with a 7–2 win.

Wrap Up

From dropping the first three, to Andy Garriolla’s three homer series, it was an up and down first hello with the Lookouts. Overall the Lookouts took four of six and have yet to drop a series in their first four. Knoxville’s bullpen was used quite a lot in this series claiming 32.2ip of the 54 total innings pitched in the six games. Gariolla exits his monster series with maintaining a .400 AVG and a 1.312 OPS. Playing almost hero on Thursday and for sure hero on Friday, it is healthy having him back in the lineup, starting all six games of the series in right field or DHing. The Smokies are back on the road this Tuesday in Madison, Alabama visiting the Trash Pandas the first time this year.

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