Hurry up, Southern League All-Star break.

The three-day respite for league teams begins Sunday, but that may not be soon enough for the Chattanooga Lookouts. Huntsville’s 9-8 win Thursday night at AT&T Field brought more of the same as the Stars continued to pummel Chattanooga pitchers.

“We just basically need to play better,” Lookouts relief pitcher Robert Manuel said. “Everybody struggles at one point or another, and it’s unfortunate that we’re all struggling at the same time. Hopefully, we can end it on a good note these next couple of games and start fresh after the all-star break.”

Chattanooga has allowed 70 runs in its last 10 games, or seven a game, and hasn’t allowed fewer than four runs in any of them. Huntsville sent eight players to the plate Thursday who are hitting .333 or better against the Lookouts this season, and they pounded out 14 hits.

Angel Salome led the damage for the Stars with a solo home run and a two-run double.

Staff Photo by John Rawlston-- Lookouts centerfielder Drew Stubbs beats the throw to Huntsville second baseman during their game at AT&T Field on Thursday. It was the first game Stubbs has started for Chattanooga.

The Lookouts have lost four straight games and are now 10-13, three games back of Huntsville (13-10) and six games back of North Division-leading Tennessee (16-7).

“I think we’re fine,” Lookouts manager Mike Goff said. “You go through spells like this as a team, and that’s where your offense needs to pick up your pitching staff. We had guys on third tonight with less than two outs, and when you don’t get it done, you don’t deserve to win the ballgame.”

Huntsville trailed 4-1 in the second inning after Justin Turner’s two-run single to left, but the Stars rallied and took their first lead, 7-6, in the sixth on Michael Brantley’s RBI single to left-center. The Stars took a two-run lead in the eighth and again in the ninth, with the Lookouts responding with a run each time.

Chattanooga pulled within 9-8 on Drew Anderson’s one-out single to right off Stars closer Juan Sandoval, but Sandoval ended the game by striking out Sean Henry and getting Turner to fly out.

Shining in defeat for the Lookouts was center fielder Drew Stubbs, who made his Double-A debut. After running down a fly in left-center in the first inning, the 23-year-old former University of Texas standout went 4-for-5 and scored once.

“It felt great to come out and get four hits,” Stubbs said. “I came up from Sarasota and tried to think of this as just another baseball game, which is all it is when it boils down to it.”

Ben Jukich (8-3, 3.30 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight’s 7:15 matchup for the Lookouts, with Nic Ungs (1-0, 0.75) scheduled for the Stars.

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