Wednesday, June 1, 2005

W 6-4

Zebulon, NC --- Josh Johnson pitched five scoreless innings as Carolina built a 4-0 lead by the fifth inning and put away the Chattanooga Lookouts for a 6-4 victory, the Mudcats' sixth straight, all over Chattanooga.

Before 1,096 at Five County, Johnson (W, 6-1) became the fifth pitcher in the Southern League with six victories before leaving with 87 pitches in five innings.

Carolina kept pace with first-place West Tenn, 1 1/2 games behind in the Northern Division.  West Tenn rallied to defeat Tennessee 12-8 on Wednesday night.

The Mudcats (35-17) tallied runs in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, and tacked on an insurance run in the eighth.  An unearned run scored in the first on a dropped throw at third base by Jeff Bannon to allow Robert Andino to come home.  Jeremy Hermida hit a sacrifice fly in the third, while Rex Rundgren singled to left in the fourth to score JC Muniz.  In the fifth, another error on Bannon permitted Hermida to score.  Drew Niles' infield single in the sixth brought home Chris Bass.  Eric Reed's sacrifice fly in the eighth completed Carolina's scoring against three Lookouts pitchers.

Stephen Smitherman connected for a two-run homer in the sixth against reliever Ryan Baker to make it a 4-2 game.  Kevin Cave entered in the seventh, but had to leave after a Norris Hopper liner smashed into Cave's right leg.  Mike McNutt, who pitched two innings on Tuesday, worked two hitless innings in emergency relief before turning the lead over to Chris Resop (S, 12), who allowed three hits and a run in the ninth to record the save.

Andino went 2-2 with a run, double and a walk, while Bass scored twice on a 2-4 night with a double.

For the second straight night, a Mudcat batter was struck in the helmet by a pitch.  Rundgren was drilled by Jeff Bruksch in the eighth, but stayed in the game.  Carolina manager Gary Allenson was ejected after words were exchanged between Allenson and Bruksch.  Tuesday night, James Shanks cheekbone was broken by a pitch from Eddy Valdez.  Shanks will likely be out four to six weeks. 

Yorman Bazardo (4-2, 3.58) starts Thursday night against Richie Gardner (2-5, 7.06) at 7:15 PM ET.   Carolina is now 12-2 against the Lookouts in 2005, with 25 more head to head games remaining.

CHATTANOOGA            0 0 0   0 0 2   1 0 1  ---   4   12   3   9

CAROLINA                    1 0 1   1 1 1   0 1 x   ---  6   10   1   8

WP - Johnson (6-1)

LP - Dumatrait (1-5)

S - Resop (12)

HR - Smitherman (1)

Time:  3:12

Att:  1,096