Dustin Yount proved Wednesday afternoon that even professional baseball players can make the simplest of gaffes.
Hitless with the Chattanooga Lookouts since joining the team May 1, the son of big-league Hall of Famer Robin Yount reached second on a drive to left-center in the fourth inning but forgot to touch first base. When the Mississippi Braves noticed the mistake and threw back to first, umpire Gerard Ascani signaled the out.
"That didn't feel very good," Yount said, "but I didn't have too big of a problem with it because I felt pretty good at the plate and had the confidence I could go up there and get another one."
Yount did just that, singling up the middle to open the seventh inning and singling to right to open the ninth. He got to second in the ninth on a sacrifice by relief pitcher David Pfeiffer and then scored on Dee Gordon's single to right to give Chattanooga a 5-4 walk-off victory.
The Lookouts improved to 15-18 and need a win in the next two nights to claim the series.
"It's nice to see Dustin come through with a couple of base hits and score the winning run," Lookouts manager Carlos Subero said. "Especially after getting his first hit of the year and having it taken off."
Said Yount: "I didn't agree, but after what everybody told me in the dugout, I guess I did miss it. That's my fault, and luckily it didn't kill us too bad."
Yount replaced left fielder Andrew Lambo on the roster following Lambo's 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, but only in a part-time role. The 27-year-old who spent most of the past three years in Independent ball was 0-for-6 with two walks in eight games before Wednesday, when he wound up 2-for-4.
Chattanooga's Tommy Giles tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth inning by tripling to right with one out and scoring on Jacob Thompson's wild pitch.
Willie Cabrera's double to left, Eric Duncan's RBI triple to center and Mauro Gomez's two-run home run to center put the Braves (16-17) up 4-1 in the third inning. The Lookouts quickly answered, however, with Eddy Perez's two-out single to center that scored Gordon and Jaime Pedroza.
Lookouts starting pitcher Chris Withrow regrouped after the first three innings to retire 12 of the last 14 batters he faced.
"I had to kind of dig inside myself and say, 'It's time to put a zero up and quit messing around,'" Withrow said. "I had a couple of rough innings at the beginning and I've had a couple of rough outings this past month, and to just go out there and compete was pretty much all I wanted to do."
Mississippi took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jordan Schafer walked, advanced to second on a Cabrera single, took third on a passed ball and scored on Gomez's sacrifice to right. The Lookouts tied it in the second inning on Mike Rivera's homer to right-center.
Mario Alvarez (3-2, 4.40) is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game for the Lookouts, with Scott Diamond (1-3, 5.17) scheduled for the Braves.