Anderson Feliz homered and Cedric Mullins drove home a pair of runs, but the Gwinnett Stripers rallied with five late runs to charge past the Tides 8-4 Tuesday night at Harbor Park.
Anderson Feliz homered and Cedric Mullins drove home a pair of runs, but the Gwinnett Stripers rallied with five late runs to charge past the Tides 8-4 Tuesday night at Harbor Park.
Feliz got the Tides on the board with a solo homer in the second inning, his first home run in 28 games with Norfolk this season. The round tripper came off of former Tide Ben Rowen, who allowed three runs on six hits over 4.1 innings in a spot start for the Stripers.
The Tides trailed the contest 3-1 entering the fifth frame, but Jack Reinheimer doubled home a run off of Rowen before scoring on a single by Mullins that knotted the score at 3-3.
The game stayed tied at 3-3 until the seventh, but Adam Duvall broke open the contest with a two-out, three-run homer off of Pedro Araujo to give the Stripers a 6-3 advantage. It was the 21st home run of the season for Duvall, 2nd-most in the International League behind Columbus's Bobby Bradley (24).
Mullins pulled the Tides within 6-4 in the bottom half of the seventh with an RBI double, but Gwinnett put the game out of reach with two unearned runs in the eighth inning that extended their lead to 8-4.
Mullins reached base safely three times in the contest, giving him hits in 11 of his last 14 games. Over that stretch, the Campbell University product has batted .308 with two home runs, seven RBI and nine runs scored.
Norfolk starter Keegan Akin did not factor in the decision after allowing three runs on six hits over five innings of work. The 24-year-old southpaw walked four and struck out three, with his three punchouts upping his season total to 83 - 2nd-most in the International League. Akin allowed a two-run double to Rafael Ortega in the first frame, but settled in to allow one run over his final four innings of work. Through 15 games this season, the Western Michigan University product now owns a 4.37 ERA.
Ryan Mountcastle registered his team-leading 28th multi-hit game in the setback, while Jesús Sucre added two hits and two runs scored. The loss was Norfolk's ninth consecutive setback, and dropped the Tides to 28-48 this season.
The Tides will head to Durham on Wednesday night to kick off a two-game set against the first place Bulls. Luis Ortiz (2-6, 7.01) is set to start for Norfolk, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05.
Notes: Earlier Tuesday, the Orioles designated LHP Sean Gilmartin for assignment and claimed RHP Tayler Scott off of waivers from Seattle and optioned him to Norfolk. RHP Pedro Araujo was transferred from Bowie to Norfolk to take Gilmartin's spot on the roster…Ryan Mountcastle made his first career appearance in the outfield, and he recorded an outfield assist at second base in the fifth inning…Zach Vincej made an error in the eighth inning, his first error since April 17th.
