IL1 Norfolk Tides

Late Homers Down Tides

Published on June 17, 2013 under International League (IL1)
Norfolk Tides News Release


Two late home runs powered the Indianapolis Indians to a 4-2 victory over the Tides Monday night at Harbor Park.

With the score tied 1-1 in the eighth inning, Ivan Dejesus Jr. belted a one-out, 1-2 offering from Mark Hendrickson (0-2) into the picnic area in left field for his third home run of the season. One inning later, Tony Sanchez lined a two-run shot off of Hendrickson over the left field fence to extend the Indians lead to 4-1.

Norfolk rallied against Indians reliever Duke Welker in the ninth, plating a run on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Wood to pull within 4-2. With runners on first and second and two outs, Welker closed the door on any further comeback bid by striking out Yamaico Navarro to give the Tribe the win and register his third save of the season.

With the loss, Nofolk has now lost a season-high six games in a row. The Tides have struggled at the plate during that stretch, as they've scored just 11 runs over that span - including three over the last 36 innings.

Six days after being roughed up by Indianapolis, Tides starter Tsuyoshi Wada turned in his best outing in a Norfolk uniform, yielding one run on five hits in 6.2 strong innings of work. Wada, who had surrendered eight runs on six hits in 1.1 innings on June 11 at Victory Field, completely baffled the Tribe Monday night, striking out eight without walking a batter. In his first start with the Tides after being optioned from Baltimore, the 32-year-old southpaw threw 66 of his 95 pitches for strikes.

The only run Wada surrendered came in the sixth, as Josh Harrison reached on a one-out single before moving to second on a groundout by Chase d'Arnaud. Matt Hague then followed with a line drive single to right field, scoring Harrison and giving the Indians a 1-0 lead.

Norfolk knotted the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, as L.J. Hoes led off the frame with a double to right off of Indians starter Stolmy Pimentel. After an errant pickoff throw advanced Hoes to third, Buck Britton lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the contest at one run apiece.

Pimentel, who was promoted from Double-A Altoona on June 15, was impressive in his Triple-A debut. The 23-year-old right-hander yielded an unearned run on five hits in six innings, walking two and striking out seven.

Erik Cordier (2-0) earned the win by striking out four over two perfect innings of relief.

The two clubs will continue their four-game series Tuesday night at Harbor Park, with first pitch set for 7:05. Orioles #2 prospect Kevin Gausman will make his Tides debut against right-hander Jeanmar Gomez (0-0, 3.00).

Notes: The eight strikeouts by Wada matched a Tides season-high... L.J. Hoes went 2-for-4 and is now batting .419 (13-for-31) over his last nine games...Buck Britton singled in the ninth inning to extend his career-high hitting streak to 13 games, matching Norfolk's longest of the season...Norfolk has batted just .182 with one home run over the first five games of the current homestand.

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International League Stories from June 17, 2013


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