Tides rally early, take down Chiefs

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, dropped an 8-2 decision to the Norfolk Tides for the second straight night on Friday. Syracuse fell into an early hole and was unable to climb out, with the Tides plating five runs in the game's first inning.

Norfolk (19-9) got on the board early and often. In the bottom of the first, Jason Pridie led off with a single against left-hander Danny Rosenbaum, and Luis Martinez followed with a walk. After a Russ Canzler fielder's choice, Danny Valencia came to the plate with runners on the corners. The third baseman then launched a 1-0 pitch into the Norfolk bullpen in right field for a three-run home run, giving the Tides a 3-0 lead. Then, with two outs, Yamaico Navarro and Jonathan Schoop singled consecutively, with Schoop taking second base on a fielding error by right fielder Erik Komatsu. The next batter, Travis Ishikawa, singled into right field, plating both Navarro and Schoop to increase the Tides' lead to 5-0.

The Tides grabbed another run in the bottom of the third inning when Lew Ford blasted a solo home run to right field, making the score 6-0.

Norfolk scored again in the bottom of the seventh, with Ford smashing his second solo home run of the game, giving the Tides a 7-0 lead. Following a Navarro walk and Schoop single, Ishikawa singled into right field to load the bases. After a Trayvon Robinson strikeout, Pridie hit a fly ball to left field for a sacrifice fly, scoring Navarro from third base for the game's eighth run.

Syracuse (9-18) finally got on the board in the eighth inning against Tides starter Jair Jurrjens. After a leadoff double by Jhonatan Solano, Komatsu singled into center field. Eury Perez then bounced a single off the glove of Navarro at shortstop, scoring Solano from third. Two batters later, Will Rhymes singled into left field, plating Komatsu from third to cut the lead to 8-2. Jurrjens, however, would recover by retiring the Chiefs' next three hitters and escaping further damage in the frame.

The Chiefs and Tides will resume their series at 7:05 on Saturday night. Syracuse right-hander Ross Ohlendorf is slated to throw against Norfolk southpaw Zach Britton.