It’s not every night the Chattanooga Lookouts need just one hit to score their first five runs.

It’s not every night they face someone as friendly as Mississippi starting pitcher Dan Smith.

Smith walked four Lookouts in the first inning Thursday at a rain-soaked AT&T Field and walked in the first run. When he finally found the strike zone, B.J. Szymanski took advantage with a grand slam over the center-field wall for a 5-0 lead in Chattanooga’s eventual 6-4 victory.

“Obviously the rain was affecting him. It was affecting everybody,” Szymanski said. “I did take the first pitch, and then he made a great pitch up and in that I fouled off. Then he threw another pitch, and then I just got a good pitch in the zone, and that’s what you’ve got to do with those balls.

“He had a good approach. It just so happened that the rain took him out of the inning.”

The homer was Szymanski’s team-leading seventh this season and his team-best second grand slam.

Chattanooga won its third straight game to improve to 22-19 in the Southern League’s first half. Mississippi, which blew a 10-run lead in Wednesday’s 11-10 loss to Montgomery, dropped to a league-worst 14-27 and has lost all nine series-opening games.

Smith entered Thursday with an 0-5 record and a 5.73 earned run average. He’s now 0-6 with a 6.17 ERA.

“A lack of command is what it was,” Mississippi manager Phillip Wellman said. “When you’re behind in the count and can’t throw a strike, then you tend to work the middle of the plate, and Szymanski did what you’re supposed to do when you throw it waist-high down the middle. He hit it in those trees over there.”

The Braves pulled within 5-1 in the second inning when Reid Gorecki homered to left, which was the only hit Lookouts starting pitcher Sam LeCure allowed through the first three innings. The Lookouts regained a five-run lead in the bottom of the second when a passed ball with the bases loaded scored Chris Valaika.

Chattanooga has taken a 6-1 lead in four consecutive games.

“It’s always nice to jump out on somebody early and give your starting pitcher a little bit of a breather,” Lookouts manager Mike Goff said. “It’s something we haven’t done a lot this year, but this last week we’ve seemed to do a pretty good job of it.”

Said Szymanski: “We’ve been jumping on guys early, but we’ve got to do a better job of continuing to get big hits in later innings. We can’t just keep scoring and then shutting it down, because it puts a lot of stress on a pitcher in the fifth and sixth inning whenever you don’t keep on scoring.”

Chattanooga took the 6-1 lead into the ninth, but an error on new second baseman Justin Turner helped lead to three Braves runs. Pedro Viola started the inning for the Lookouts, but Josh Roenicke was called on to collect his ninth save.

Ramon Ramirez (2-1, 3.72 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight’s 7:15 matchup for the Lookouts, with James Parr (1-3, 5.63) scheduled for the Braves.