Tides rally to complete series sweep
Norfolk rallied from a 3-2 deficit with five unanswered to knock off the Toledo Mud Hens 7-3 Tuesday afternoon at Harbor Park.
Trailing 3-2 entering the sixth, the Tides knotted the score after Russ Canzler singled with two outs and came around to score on a double by Danny Valencia. One inning later, an RBI single by Trayvon Robinson gave Norfolk the lead, and a sacrifice fly by Jason Pridie extended the lead to 5-3.
The Tides then padded their lead in the eighth frame on RBI singles by Yamaico Navarro and Jonathan Schoop. Navarro also belted a solo homer and scored three runs in the win, which was Norfolk's sixth in a row.
The win gave Norfolk a four-game sweep of the series, and was the 10th straight victory for the Tides over Toledo dating back to last season.
Mike Belfiore (1-0) earned his first Triple-A victory with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Tides starter Josh Stinson yielded three runs on six hits in his first outing since rejoining the club from Baltimore. Stinson walked three and struck out three over 6.2 innings, throwing 56 of his 96 pitches for strikes.
After an off day Wednesday, Norfolk welcomes the Syracuse Chiefs to Harbor Park Thursday night for the first game of a four-game series. Jake Arrieta (1-0, 0.00) will make his second start with the Tides and will be opposed by right-hander Ryan Perry (0-1, 4.79). First pitch is set for 6:35.
Tides Tidbits: Jairo Asencio struck out two in a scoreless ninth to lower his ERA to 0.82…Norfolk had not swept a four-game series vs. Toledo at Harbor Park since the 2003 season…The Tides improved to 8-0 in series finales this season…Norfolk improved to 12-2 when scoring first…The Tides remained a game back of Durham in the IL South. Durham defeated Syracuse 7-1 earlier Tuesday.