Tides knock off Buffalo to wrap up series win

Jonathan Schoop and Niuman Romero both homered during a four-run third inning to power the Tides past the Buffalo Bisons 7-3 Thursday afternoon. 

The two teams were scoreless entering the third inning before Romero opened the scoring with a solo home run off of Bisons starter Miguel Batista (1-1). Two batters later, Schoop belted a solo homer to up Norfolk's lead to 2-0, and Travis Ishikawa later added a two-run single in the frame to give the Tides a 4-0 lead. 

Ishikawa, who finished with two hits in the contest, now owns a career-high 12-game hitting streak. Over that span, he's batted .435 (20-for-46) with three home runs and 15 RBI to up his average from .180 to .290. Ishikawa finished the four-game the series with nine hits, three home runs and eight runs batted in. 

Tides starter Zach Britton did not factor in the decision after working just 4.1 innings. Britton allowed three runs on five hits and four walks while striking out a season-high six, but he needed 96 pitches to navigate his outing. 

Chris Jones (1-0) earned his first Triple-A victory by working 1.2 scoreless innings. Jones combined with Adam Russell and Mark Hendrickson to work 4.2 shutout innings of relief to help the Tides win for the 12th time in 14 games.  

Norfolk won three of four in the series, and the Tides are now 10-0 in series finales this year. 

The Tides will continue their eight-game road trip on Friday night as they start a four-game series with the Syracuse Chiefs. Josh Stinson (1-0, 2.59) will take the hill for the Tides against right-hander Chris Young (0-1, 7.04), with first pitch slated for 7:00. 

Notes: Norfolk has won 22 of its last 29 games...The Tides hit three doubles in the contest to up their league-leading total to 71...Norfolk has homered in 13 consecutive games...Norfolk improved to 17-3 when scoring first.