Late surge helps Stripers sink Tides

Norfolk got home runs from Rubén Tejada and Stuart Levy, but the Gwinnett Stripers blew open a close game with seven late runs in a 9-2 win over the Tides Sunday afternoon at Harbor Park. 

Tejada got the Tides on the board in the fifth frame with a solo blast off of Gwinnett starter Wes Parsons, his first home run of the season. The round tripper gave Tejada a six-game hitting streak, over which he's batted .292 (7-24) with five runs batted in. 
Two batters after Tejada's blast, Levy followed with a solo home run of his own to knot the game at 2-2. The homer was the first hit at the Triple-A level for Levy, a 27th round pick by the Orioles in the 2015 draft out of Arkansas State University. 
After Norfolk tied the contest in the fifth inning, Gwinnett answered back with a run in the seventh inning on an RBI single by Rio Ruiz off of D.J. Snelten (2-2) to put the Stripers up 3-2. Gwinnett then blew the game open in the eighth inning, plating four runs in the frame off of Eddie Gamboa to extend their lead to 7-2. The Stripers capped the scoring with a pair of runs off of Tim Melville in the ninth inning to extend their advantage to 9-2. 
Making his third rehab start with Norfolk and his sixth rehab start in the O's system, Tides starter Chris Tillman took a no-decision. Rehabbing from a lower back strain, the 30-year-old right-hander allowed eight hits and two runs over 5.1 innings of work, throwing 61 of his 100 pitches for strikes. Tillman yielded a solo home run to Michael Reed in the third frame and a two-out RBI double to Luis Marté in the fourth before settling down to retire six of the final seven batters he faced.  
Parsons (5-2) earned the win after allowing two runs on five hits over six innings of work. He struck out five and walked one while throwing 61 of his 92 pitches for strikes. 
With the win, the Stripers (41-52) took three of four games from the Tides (47-44) in Norfolk's first series after the Triple-A All-Star break. 
The Tides will open up an eight-game road trip through upstate New York on Monday with the first of three games against the Buffalo Bisons. David Hess (2-1, 3.06) is set to start for Norfolk and will be opposed by right-hander Brandon Cumpton (1-0, 0.00), with first pitch slated for 7:05 pm.  
Notes: Norfolk allowed 20 hits in the contest, the most they've allowed in a game this season….Sunday's contest wrapped up a stretch of 19 consecutive games against the IL South division. The Tides will now play each of their next 14 games out of the division…Cedric Mullins extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a bunt single…Luis Sardiñas singled twice, giving him six multi-hit games through 10 contests in July.
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