Tides rally late, move 20 games over .500
Norfolk took advantage of a strong start from Terry Doyle and a pair of late Louisville miscues to rally past the Bats 3-2 Monday night at Harbor Park.
The Tides trailed the contest 2-0 entering the seventh frame before mounting a rally against the Bats bullpen, as a Michael Almanzar sacrifice fly pulled the Tides within 2-1.
One inning later, Norfolk loaded the bases with nobody out against Drew Hayes (2-3), as Paul Janish singled before consecutive walks to Henry Urrutia and Junior Lake. After a popout, Dariel Alvarez hit a chopper to the left of Bats third baseman Hernan Iribarren, who couldn't handle the grounder as he moved towards second base, allowing Janish to score. Iribarren then complicated matters by attempting to flip the ball with his glove towards second base, but his flip rolled halfway between second base and first base and allowed Urrutia to score all the way from second base with the go-ahead run.
The late rally made a winner out of Terry Doyle (1-0), who picked up the win in his Tides debut after allowing two runs on six hits in eight innings of work. Doyle, who was transferred to Norfolk earlier Monday after opening the year with Double-A Bowie, walked two and struck out four as he matched the longest effort by a Tides starter this season.
With the win, Doyle improved to 13-1 between Bowie and Norfolk this season, and his 13 wins are now tied with Tampa Bay's Jacob Faria and Pittsburgh's Angel Sanchez for the most among all minor leaguer pitchers.
Oliver Drake followed Doyle's efforts with a scoreless ninth inning, striking out the side while walking one to earn his 17th save of the season. Drake has now turned in 25 consecutive scoreless outings, as he's not surrendered a run with Norfolk since April 26. For the season, the Naval Academy product has struck out 54 while posting a 0.55 ERA in 33.0 innings of work.
The victory was Norfolk's 11th in its last 14 games and moved the Tides (64-44) 20 games over the .500 mark for the first time since Norfolk finished the 2001 campaign with an 85-57 record. The Tides also own a season-best 6.0 game lead over Charlotte in the IL South Division.
The two clubs continue their four-game series Tuesday night at Harbor Park, with first pitch slated for 7:05. Kenn Kasparek is slated to make his Norfolk debut and will be opposed by left-hander Brandon Finnegan (0-0, 6.00).
Notes: Junior Lake singled, walked twice and stole a base in his first game with Norfolk after being acquired from the Cubs on Friday…Sean Halton singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, over which he's hit .400 (18-45) with two doubles and five RBI…Norfolk did not commit an error for the 15th time in 17 games since the All-Star break…The one-run game was Norfolk's league-leading 45th of the season…The Tides wore throwback Norfolk Tars jerseys as part of a Turn Back The Clock promotion that featured 50-cent hot dogs, sodas and popcorn.