IL1 Gwinnett Stripers

Stripers Surge Late to Rout Tides, 9-2

Published on July 15, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Gwinnett Stripers News Release


NORFOLK, Va. - Rio Ruiz lined a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning, then added two more run-scoring singles over the final two frames as the Gwinnett Stripers defeated the Norfolk Tides 9-2 on Sunday at Harbor Park. Gwinnett took three of the four games in the series.

Ruiz matched season highs for hits (4) and RBIs (4) as the Stripers set a season high with 20 hits. Michael Reed fell a triple shy of the cycle in a 3-for-5 effort, and Luis Marte also went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the rout.

Until the late-inning surge, the game was a tense battle. Gwinnett took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Reed's towering solo home run (6) into the bullpen in left-center, then made it 2-0 in the fourth on an RBI double by Marte.

Right-hander Wes Parsons started the game with 4.0 scoreless, two-hit innings, but surrendered solo homers to both Ruben Tejada (1) and Stuart Levy (1) in the fifth, tying the game at 2-2.

Facing left-hander D.J. Snelten (L, 2-2) in the seventh, Marte and Reed reached on singles and Ruiz stroked an RBI single up the middle for a 3-2 lead.

Parsons (W, 5-2) exited after 6.0 innings, holding the Tides to two runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. He was replaced by right-hander Andres Santiago (H, 1), who worked out of a two-on, two-out jam with a strikeout of Cedric Mullins in the seventh.

The Stripers broke the game open against right-hander Eddie Gamboa in the eighth as Ruiz slapped a two-run single to left, Austin Riley ripped an RBI double to right-center and Carlos Franco tallied his team-leading 56th RBI with a single to left-center.

Lefty Chad Bell loaded the bases with none out in the eighth, but induced a pair of fielder's choice groundouts and struck out one to escape unscathed.

Gwinnett added two more runs of insurance against right-hander Tim Melville in the ninth as Marte and Ruiz each tallied RBI singles.

Right-hander Jason Hursh struck out one in a scoreless bottom of the ninth to finish the game.

Every Stripers batter had at least one hit in the game, led by the four-hit effort from Ruiz, three hits from Marte and Reed and two hits from Riley and Xavier Avery.

For the Tides (47-44), Mullins extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a 1-for-5 effort. Rehabbing Baltimore Orioles' right-hander Chris Tillman yielded two runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings in a no-decision.

The Stripers (41-52) return to Coolray Field on Monday night to start a seven-game homestand. Game one of a four-game series vs. the Indianapolis Indians starts at 7:05 p.m. Gwinnett will start left-hander Kolby Allard (5-4, 2.96 ERA), while Indianapolis will start right-hander Tyler Eppler (9-3, 3.06 ERA). Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 and 93.5 FM "The Other Side of the River" beginning at 6:35 p.m.

Check out the Gwinnett Stripers Statistics

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International League Stories from July 15, 2018


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