Home runs help Tides topple Buffalo Wednesday

Home runs by Jason Pridie and Danny Valencia and a strong outing by Jair Jurrjens lifted Norfolk to an 8-4 victory over the Buffalo Bisons Wednesday night. 

Pridie opened the scoring with a leadoff home run in the first inning, the third time this season he's led off a game with a long ball. Norfolk later added a run on a wild pitch to take a 2-0 first inning lead. 

Buffalo quickly responded with three runs of their own in the first inning off Jurrjens (4-1), who yielded four hits in the opening frame. Jurrjens responded by retiring 17 of the next 18 batters he faced as he turned in his sixth Quality Start of the season. The 27-year-old right-hander walked one and struck out three while throwing 58 of his 92 pitches for strikes. 

The Tides trailed 3-2 until the fifth, when they strung together a two-out rally against Bisons starter Claudio Vargas (3-2). Yamaico Navarro reached on a bunt single before Lew Ford worked a walk, and Valencia followed with a go-ahead three-run homer deep to left field to give the Tides a 5-3 advantage. 

Norfolk's bullpen of Daniel Schlereth, Manny Delcarmen and Jairo Asencio combined to work the final three frames, lifting the Tides to a win for the 11th time in 13 games. 

The two clubs will wrap up their four-game series on Thursday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 1:05. Zach Britton (1-1, 2.75) will take the mound for Norfolk.   

Notes: The home runs by Pridie and Valencia marked the 12th straight game in which the Tides have hit at least one home run...Travis Ishikawa singled to extend his hitting streak to 11 games...L.J. Hoes had three hits to up his season average to .299.