Missed opportunities cost Suns in extra innings

By J.P. SHADRICK

JACKSONVILLE, FL - The Suns squandered five opportunities after the eighth inning with a potential winning run in scoring position while Chattanooga's Justin Turner hit a two-out, two-run homerun in the top of the fifteenth inning, leading the Chattanooga Lookouts (42-40, 5-7) took a 2-1, 15-inning Sunday victory over the Jacksonville Suns (39-43, 6-6) in front of 5,921 at the Baseball Grounds.

The Suns won the six game series four games to two.

After fourteen scoreless innings and with both bullpens depleted, Suns infielder Adolfo Gonzalez moved to the mound in the fifteenth inning for his second appearance in the series. With a runner on and two out, Justin Turner blasted his second homerun of the series for a 2-0 lead.

Lookouts reliever Lee Tabor entered in the bottom of the inning to try for a save, but ran into immediate trouble. After a leadoff groundout from Zach Hammes, Juan Gonzalez drew a walk and later stole second base during an Adam Godwin strikeout. Adolfo Gonzalez next singled home Juan Gonzalez, cutting Chattanooga's lead to 2-1. A Matt Berezay single and Ivan DeJesus, Jr. walk loaded the bases. With the tying run at third and winning run at second base, James Tomlin flied out to right field to end the game.

Jacksonville had plenty of opportunities to win the game in the later innings, leaving a total of 14 runners on base from the ninth inning through the fifteenth. With the winning run at third and two out in the ninth, Adam Godwin was robbed of a game-winning hit by a sliding catch by right fielder Sean Henry to send the game to extra innings.

In the tenth inning, a single, walk and sacrifice bunt put the winning run at third with one out. An intentional walk, strikeout and groundout ended the threat. The Suns had the winning run at second with one out and later at third base with two out in the twelfth inning, only to have a strikeout end another opportunity. With the winning run at second and one out in the fourteenth inning, the four and five hitters popped out kill another rally. Finally, after scoring a fifteenth inning run, the Suns left the bases loaded to end the game.

All the late drama followed what was an outstanding battle of pitching during the early stages.

Suns starter James McDonald allowed five hits and one walk with nine strikeouts over six scoreless innings. Lookouts starter Travis Wood scattered four Suns hits with two walks and two strikeouts over five scoreless innings.

The bullpens continued the outstanding work as Travis Schlichting (three innings), Edwardo Sierra (two innings) Danny Muegge (one inning), Brent Leach (one inning) and Zach Hammes (one inning) all had scoreless outings. Chattanooga's Robert Manuel (three innings), Carlos Fisher (two innings), Derrik Lutz (two innings) and Michael Hrynio (two innings) also worked without allowing any scoring.

Chattanooga reliever Michael Hrynio (2-0) picked up the win while Adolfo Gonzalez (0-1) fell in the loss. Lee Tabor (1) saved the game for the Lookouts.

In addition, Zach Hammes played the 15th inning at first base, the first pitcher to play a fielding position since Luis Gonzalez played left field on September 4, 2005 at Birmingham.

Suns RH Jesus Castillo will face Carolina Mudcats RH Rick Vanden Hurk Monday at 7:05 p.m. ET at the Baseball Grounds. The first 1,000 will receive a photoball of Hank Aaron. Tickets are available through the Suns box office at (904) 358-2846 or by visiting jaxsuns.com.