The Carolina Mudcats’ second-half woes continue.
For the second straight day Eddy Perez carried the big bat for the Chattanooga Lookouts, who dumped the visiting Mudcats 9-3 on Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Field.
Game 5 of the current six-game series, which the Lookouts lead 3 games to 1, is Thursday night at 7:15 with Jordan Smith (4-3, 3.29) going against Chattanooga’s Travis Chick (6-3, 3.82).
In Wednesday’s game Chattanooga got to spot-starter Lee Tabor (0-1) for four runs in the first on RBI singles from Perez and Russ Mitchell and a two-run double from Gabe Gutierrez, and the Mudcats never threatened to make a game of it.
Carolina (2-8 in the half) got its runs on a fourth-inning double from Carson Kainer, a Zack Cozart (pictured) sacrifice fly in the sixth and a Michael Griffin grounder in the ninth.
the deficit to 6-2, but Perez struck again in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded, Perez blew up his bat on a Sean Watson pitch, but muscled a double down the right field line for a three-run double. Perez has driven home seven runs in the last two games against the Mudcats.
In other news involving the Mudcats, Cozart has been named the starting shortstop for the North team in the SL All-Star Game on July 13 in Birmingham while Todd Frazier is in left and ace Travis Wood on the mound.
Carolina returns home Saturday night at 7:15 against the Tennessee Smokies, with a big fireworks show to follow.
