Johnson's late hit lifts Tides past Durham

Chris Johnson's RBI double scored Logan Schafer and helped Norfolk salvage a series split in a 4-3 win over Durham Sunday evening at Harbor Park.

With the score knotted at 3-3 in the seventh, Schafer ignited the game-winning rally with a leadoff triple off of José Alvarado (0-1). One out later, Johnson lined a double into the right-center field gap to plate Schafer and give the Tides a 4-3 lead.
Johnson, who also walked and scored in the contest, has now hit safely in eight of his last 10 games, over which he's hit .349 (15-43) with one home run, five doubles and five runs batted in.  
Jimmy Yacabonis (2-0) made the lead hold up, as he retired all nine batters he faced in a three-inning appearance. Yacabonis struck out one, lowering his ERA to 1.27 in 29 appearances with Norfolk this season.
The Tides had jumped out to an early lead in the contest, as Norfolk plated three runs on four hits in the first inning. Drew Dosch and Chance Sisco each had RBI singles in the frame, with another run scoring on a double play groundout by Craig Gentry.
Norfolk starter Chris Lee carried a shutout into the fifth inning before the Bulls touched him up for a pair of runs to chase him from the contest. Four straight Durham batters reached against Lee with one out in the fifth, with Jake Bauers and Curt Casali registering RBIs in the frame.
Lee yielded two runs on four hits over 4.1 innings, walking three and striking out one. He threw 42 of his 69 pitches for strikes as he made his first start since July 5^th.
The Bulls knotted the score at 3-3 in the sixth inning on a solo home run by Jake Hager off of Matt Wotherspoon.
Sisco and Dosch each finished with two hits and an RBI in the win, while Luis Sardiñas added two hits and a walk. Sardiñas now has 11 multi-hit games in 25 games since June 10^th, batting .320 (31-97) over that span.
The Tides will open up a seven-game road trip on Monday with the first of three games in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Right-hander Gabriel Ynoa (1-8, 7.64) gets the start for Norfolk, with first pitch slated for 7:05 pm.
Notes: Prior to Sunday's game, outfielder Craig Gentry was activated to Norfolk's roster after being outrighted from Baltimore, while IF Alex Castellanos was placed on the 7-day disabled list…The Tides have not played a home game against a team other than Durham or Louisville since June 15^th…Norfolk's next 30 games are all slated to be against teams at or above the .500 mark…Pedro Álvarez has appeared in each of Norfolk's 94 games this season, as he leads all of Minor League Baseball in that category.