The Jackson Generals look to end a four-game losing streak when the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks play Chattanooga at AT&T Field, at 6:15 p.m., today.
Jackson thwarted by Lewis Thorpe and his left-handed cronies on Wednesday, falling 5-3 to the Chattanooga Lookouts.
The Generals (60-54) have now lost four straight games overall, and Wednesday’s setback was their eighth in a row at the hands of Chattanooga (55-58).
Emilio Vargas (0-1, 6.10 ERA) made it through the first inning without trouble, but a two-out RBI single by Zander Wiel in the second gave the Lookouts an early 2-0 lead. A solo blast by Brent Rooker to lead off the bottom of the fifth again gave the Lookouts room to breathe at 3-1, as Vargas allowed a homer for the second time in as many starts. Vargas departed with one out in the sixth inning and a man on base, but Bud Jeter failed to shut the door, ceding a two-run shot to Jimmy Kerrigan that made the Chattanooga lead 5-1. Kirby Bellow looked sharp in an inning of scoreless relief, while newcomer Michael Blazek delivered a scoreless eighth inning in his first outing as a General.
The West Tennessee bunch could barely get anything going against southpaw starter Lewis Thorpe (8-4, 3.58 ERA) despite stranding three men in the first inning and another at third base in the fourth. Jose Vinicio tripled in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch to put Jackson on the board, but the lineup around Vinicio continued to scuffle against left-handed reliever Andrew Vasquez. A shaky opening to the ninth inning by Sam Clay allowed Josh Prince and Matt Jones to each reach base and later score, but with the go-ahead run in the on-deck circle, Vinicio struck out against Cody Stashak (S, 3) to finalize the defeat. The Generals are now hitting .254 against left-handed pitching this season. The Jackson offense has slowed to a crawl in August (12 runs in six games), with the Generals going without a homer in their past nine games and without a stolen base in their past six games.
NEXT GENERALS GAME:
6:15 p.m. vs. Chattanooga Lookouts
AT&T Field – Chattanooga
RHP Taylor Widener (4-5, 2.64 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Wells (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
