Villanueva, Tides Top Rochester 2-1
May 23, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Norfolk Tides News Release
Norfolk used a strong start from Elih Villanueva and clutch hits from Steve Clevenger and Henry Urrutia in a 2-1 win over Rochester in front of 10,066 fans at Harbor Park Saturday night.
Making his first home start for the Tides, Villanueva (1-1) did not allow a run over 5.1 innings of work. He yielded four hits and one walk over the outing, striking out four while throwing 64 of his 94 pitches for strikes. Villanueva, who was promoted to Norfolk from Bowie on May 17, now has five victories between the two levels - most among Orioles minor leaguers.
Patrick McCoy and Pedro Beato followed Villanueva's efforts by allowing one run over 3.2 innings of relief. Beato allowed an RBI double to Kennys Vargas in the eighth inning before striking out two in a scoreless ninth to register his second save of the season.
Norfolk jumped out to an early lead in the first frame, as Henry Urrutia opened the contest with a single and moved to second on a single by Nolan Reimold. Clevenger followed with a two-out single to center off of Tyler Duffy (0-1) that plated Urrutia and gave Norfolk a 1-0 advantage.
Norfolk doubled its lead in the fifth inning when Urrutia plated Derrik Gibson with a two-out triple to right-center field. It was the first triple of the season for Urrutia, who raised his average to .261 with two hits in the contest.
With the win, Norfolk (23-20) pulled within a half-game of Charlotte for first place in the IL South Division.
The two clubs wrap up their season series Sunday afternoon at Harbor Park, with first pitch slated for 1:05. In a battle of left-handers, Chris Jones (1-1, 2.73) takes the mound for Norfolk against Tommy Milone (3-0, 0.00).
Notes: Prior to Saturday's game, the Orioles recalled RHP Oliver Drake from Norfolk and optioned RHP Tyler Wilson to Norfolk...Nolan Reimold had two hits in the contest and has now batted .327 (18-55) over his last 14 games...The Tides improved to 12-9 in one-run games...Derrik Gibson has hit .375 (3-8) with two runs over his first three games since being promoted from Double-A Bowie Friday...35 of Norfolk's 43 games have been decided by three runs or less...Norfolk is 7-2 over its last nine home games.
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