Chance Sisco homered twice and drove in four, but the Columbus Clippers used four home runs of their own to surge past the Tides 12-5 Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.
Chance Sisco homered twice and drove in four, but the Columbus Clippers used four home runs of their own to surge past the Tides 12-5 Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.
Sisco got the Tides on the board with a two-run shot to left in the first inning, then capped Norfolk's offensive output in the eighth inning with a two-run homer to right. The 24-year-old backstop has now hit a team-high 10 home runs, surpassing his career-high of nine round trippers hit between Norfolk (7) and Baltimore (2) during the 2017 campaign. Sisco has hit all 10 of his home runs over a 23-game span since April 30th, a stretch that has seen him hit .372 (32-86) with 29 runs batted in and a .471 on-base percentage.
Joey Rickard also hit a solo homer in the setback, his first round tripper with the Tides since he joined Norfolk from Baltimore on May 27th. Jesús Sucre added two doubles for Norfolk, which was swept in the three-game set.
The Clippers got home runs from Mark Mathias, Tyler Naquin, Trayce Thompson and Ryan Flaherty in the win. Columbus has now won all six games with Norfolk this year, outscoring the Tides 52-22 while out-homering Norfolk 17-5.
Luis Ysla (2-3) took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits over five innings of work. He matched his season-high with eight strikeouts, but issued four walks while throwing 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes. Chris Lee followed Ysla out of the bullpen and struggled, allowing eight runs on nine hits over 2.2 innings.
Former Tide Asher Wojciechowski improved to 5-1 with the win, as he allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings.
The Tides will welcome the Louisville Bats to town on Friday night in the first of a three-game set. Tyler Herb (3-2, 5.06) is set to start for Norfolk against right-hander Keury Mella (3-4, 5.36), with first pitch scheduled for 7:05.
On Friday, the first 2,000 fans ages 17 and under will receive a Pajaritos de Norfolk youth jersey, presented by Pepsi and The Hampton Roads Show. Norfolk will be wearing their Pajarito jerseys as part of their Copa de la Diversíon initiative, and there will be a postgame fireworks show following the contest.
Notes: Jace Peterson singled, walked and scored two runs, upping his on-base percentage to .442 through 25 games in May…Mason Williams singled and scored a run to extend his hitting streak to six consecutive games…Norfolk leads the IL with a .307 average with runners in scoring position, but the Tides went 1-for-19 with RISP during the three-game set.
