Tides, Yacabonis able to hold off Knights

Norfolk flexed its muscles in a nail-biter in Wednesday's day game at Charlotte. David Washington and Paul Janish both homered to lead the Tides' offense and Jimmy Yacabonis was able to close out the game yet again with his fifth save of the season.

Charlotte got the ball rolling first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the 1^st inning. Ryan Raburn singled on a soft ground ball in front of the plate that scored Yoan Moncada. Danny Hayes followed with a single to center field, scoring Jason Bourgeois.
Norfolk answered right back in the top of the 2^nd, as Washington drove a line drive over the right-center field wall for a solo home run, his 4^th of the season and his 3^rd in the last nine games.
Charlotte continued their hot start in the bottom of the 2^nd when Roberto Peña scored on a sacrifice fly by Bourgeois, putting the Knights up 3-1.
Once again, Norfolk answered back in the top of the 3^rd when Janish hit his second home run of the season, driving in the recent call-up Daniel Fajardo to tie the game at 3.
After striking out Jose Vinicio to start the bottom of the 3^rd, Chris Lee allowed three consecutive singles to load the bases. The Tides made a pitching change to bring in Stefan Crichton to help him out of the jam. Only one run was able to score on a sacrifice fly by Raburn to score Moncada, putting the Knights up 4-3.
In the top of the 5^th, Pedro Álvarez tied the game on an RBI single to right field to score Janish. In the next at bat, Washington came through again with an RBI single to right to score Johnny Giavotella to give Norfolk a 5-4 lead.
Yacabonis came in relief for a 5-out save in the bottom of the 8^th after Vidal Nuño stuck out Vinicio and walked Moncada. Facing Bourgeois, Yacabonis was able to end the inning on a 4-6-3 double play.
In the bottom of the 9^th, Yacabonis walked Nicky Delmonico, Raburn and Danny Hayes to start the inning. Rymer Liriano then dribbled the ball back to Yacabonis, which lead to a 1-2-3 double play. With the tying run at third and the winning run at second, Adam Engel hit a soft line-drive to shallow right field. Instead of a game-winning hit, Giovatella laid out to his left from second base to make the game-saving diving catch to end the game.
Crichton (3-0, 2.31 ERA) was awarded the win after pitching 2.1 shutout innings, striking out four and allowed just two hits and one walk. Nuño earned a hold in his first game with the Tides after being optioned to Norfolk from Baltimore this past weekend.
Yacabonis, who hasn't allowed a run in 13.1 innings pitched this season, continues to be a strong anchor for the Tides. Batters are hitting .073 (3 for 41) on the year and he is now 5 for 5 in save opportunities. It was unusual to see him walk three, he only walked one entering today's game. Nevertheless, he was able to get himself out of trouble, helping the Tides get their 10^th win of the season.
The Tides are now 10-15 and remain in 4^th place in the IL South. They play their last game of the series Thursday at 7:05, where Mike Wright (0-3, 5.79 ERA) will face Tyler Danish (1-1, 1.96 ERA) before they return to Harbor Park for a 3-game homestand to host Durham.