Joc Pederson reached base five times Wednesday afternoon, but it wasn't enough as Chattanooga dropped a 5-4 decision to Mobile.
The Lookouts could not recover from a disappointing start by pitcher Chris Reed, who allowed four runs on four hits and four walks before being pulled after three innings. The loss was the seventh in eight games for Chattanooga, which dropped to 12-20 in the Southern League's first half.
"This was a tough loss," said Pederson, who walked twice and had three hits to raise his batting average to .328. "We fought hard, but we've got to come back tomorrow ready to play. I feel like things are going to turn around, but we've got to keep working hard.
"We're going to start winning some ballgames."
The Lookouts trailed 5-2 entering the eighth inning before pulling within a run on consecutive homers by Blake Smith and C.J. Retherford. Chattanooga had loaded the bases in the seventh when Pederson drew a two-out a walk after a 16-pitch at-bat, but Yasiel Puig grounded out to end that threat.
A crowd of 5,374 attended Wednesday's game, giving AT&T Field an impressive two-game midweek total of 11,701.
The BayBears took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Keon Broxton singled up the middle with two out, advanced to second on a balk and scored on Raywilly Gomez's single to left. Reed walked three of the first four batters in the third inning before giving up a double to right-center by Jon Griffin that cleared the bases to make it 4-0.
"Chris just lost his feel in the third inning," Lookouts pitching coach Hector Berrios said. "He was missing down, and when he did get in the zone, he left one up. He had a great April with four out of five good starts, but he didn't have his command today."
Mobile starting pitcher Archie Bradley tallied four strikeouts in the first two innings before leaving the game trying to break up a double play in the third inning. Bradley, the No. 2 prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization according to Baseball America, turned down an opportunity to play quarterback at Oklahoma in 2011.
Andres Santiago (2-3, 4.30) is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game for the Lookouts, with David Holmberg (0-2, 2.45) scheduled for the BayBears.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.