NORFOLK, Va. - Rio Ruiz lined a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning, then added two more run-scoring singles over the final two frames as the Gwinnett Stripers defeated the Norfolk Tides 9-2 on Sunday at Harbor Park. Gwinnett took three of the four games in the series.
NORFOLK, Va. - Rio Ruiz lined a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning, then added two more run-scoring singles over the final two frames as the Gwinnett Stripers defeated the Norfolk Tides 9-2 on Sunday at Harbor Park. Gwinnett took three of the four games in the series.
Ruiz matched season highs for hits (4) and RBIs (4) as the Stripers set a season high with 20 hits. Michael Reed fell a triple shy of the cycle in a 3-for-5 effort, and Luis Marté also went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the rout.
Until the late-inning surge, the game was a tense battle. Gwinnett took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Reed's towering solo home run (6) into the bullpen in left-center, then made it 2-0 in the fourth on an RBI double by Marte.
Right-hander Wes Parsons started the game with 4.0 scoreless, two-hit innings, but surrendered solo homers to both Rubén Tejada (1) and Stuart Levy (1) in the fifth, tying the game at 2-2.
Facing left-hander D.J. Snelten (L, 2-2) in the seventh, Marte and Reed reached on singles and Ruiz stroked an RBI single up the middle for a 3-2 lead.
Parsons (W, 5-2) exited after 6.0 innings, holding the Tides to two runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. He was replaced by right-hander Andres Santiago (H, 1), who worked out of a two-on, two-out jam with a strikeout of Cedric Mullins in the seventh.
The Stripers broke the game open against right-hander Eddie Gamboa in the eighth as Ruiz slapped a two-run single to left, Austin Riley ripped an RBI double to right-center and Carlos Franco tallied his team-leading 56th RBI with a single to left-center.
Lefty Chad Bell loaded the bases with none out in the eighth, but induced a pair of fielder's choice groundouts and struck out one to escape unscathed.
Gwinnett added two more runs of insurance against right-hander Tim Melville in the ninth as Marte and Ruiz each tallied RBI singles.
Right-hander Jason Hursh struck out one in a scoreless bottom of the ninth to finish the game.
Every Stripers batter had at least one hit in the game, led by the four-hit effort from Ruiz, three hits from Marte and Reed and two hits from Riley and Xavier Avery.
For the Tides (47-44), Mullins extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a 1-for-5 effort. Rehabbing Baltimore Orioles' right-hander Chris Tillman yielded two runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings in a no-decision.
The Stripers (41-52) return to Coolray Field on Monday night to start a seven-game homestand. Game one of a four-game series vs. the Indianapolis Indians starts at 7:05 p.m. Gwinnett will start left-hander Kolby Allard (5-4, 2.96 ERA), while Indianapolis will start right-hander Tyler Eppler (9-3, 3.06 ERA). Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 and 93.5 FM "The Other Side of the River" beginning at 6:35 p.m.
