Tides Fall in Final Home Game of Regular Season

NORFOLK, VA --- The Norfolk Tides (87-56) fell to the Memphis Redbirds (68-76), 7-1, on Sunday afternoon at Harbor Park. In the final regular season game at Harbor Park this year, the Tides bats go silent, settling for a series split with the Redbirds.

Following a scoreless first frame, Matt Koperniak came around to score after leading off the second inning with a double, crossing home plate on a two-out RBI single from Tres Barrera to put Memphis in front early.

Four consecutive hits by Tides batters in the third led to Jackson Holliday driving in the equalizing run, punching a ball through the right side to tie the game at one apiece.

In their next turn at bat, Memphis led off the top of the fourth with four straight base hits as well, scratching three runs on a Móises Goméz solo home run to lead off the frame, followed shortly after by a Barrera two-run shot. Drawing a bases loaded walk later in the inning was Koperniak, and the Redbirds extended their lead to four, holding a 5-1 advantage over the Tides.

Memphis tacked on another in the fifth on an Irving Lopez RBI single to put the Redbirds up by five. The scoring would pause until the eighth when the visitors added a run on a fielder’s choice, making it a 7-1 score. The lead would hold and Memphis would tag Norfolk with the loss in the series finale.

Norfolk hits the road for the final series of the regular season with first pitch in Buffalo scheduled for 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday night after a scheduled off day tomorrow. Neither side has announced a probable starter.

POSTGAME NOTES

Happy Hollidays: Checking in with a multi-hit performance this afternoon was Jackson Holliday who went 2-for-4 with an RBI...he extends his hit streak to four games, batting .375 (6-for-16) with two extra-base hits and two RBI while posting a 1.099 OPS with two multi-hit efforts in those games.

Fantastic Fontana: Knocking a pair of two-baggers around the park today was Shayne Fontana who went 2-for-3 at the dish with a run scored in addition to the doubles...he is batting .389 (7-for-18) in the month of September and has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games.

Double The Fun: With three doubles on the day, the 2023 Tides have set the franchise record for most doubles in a season, surpassing the mark held by the 2005 and 2019 teams who collected 270 doubles as a team in each of those years.