Drying out the infield
Before they were the Norfolk Tides they were known as the Tidewater Tides a reference to the rather quaint sounding name for the south side of the Hampton Roads region. The Tidewater it is still called by many who forget that the term Tidewater is a rather polite term invented by travel agencies and developers to replace the rather dismal word “swamp.” In fact the southern part of our region is taken up by the Great Dismal Swamp which is both rather large and rather dismal a good reason that it was named as such by none other than George “I’m on the Greenback” Washington. Of course there Things in Norfolk went from bad to worse back to just bad before getting much worse before becoming incredibly good unless you play for or are a fan of the Indianapolis Indians. The weather was lousy even by Hampton Roads standards for this time of year with drizzle and rain falling for most of the game making conditions for those playing on the field rather atrocious. Eventually 7 errors would be committed, 5 by the Tides on this rain filled evening that turned the infield at Harbor Park into muck.
Nolan Reimold beats out an errant throw at first in the 6th inning, Robert Andino and Michael Aubrey scored
The game began inauspiciously for the Tides, starter Zach Britton struggled through the early innings before giving up 4 runs in the 4th inning. Britton loaded the bases giving up a single, a base on balls and a bunt single. Alex Presley grounded into a force out to score Luke Carlin. With two outs Britton picked off Presley when he got too far off the bag resulting in a run down. During the run down Robert Andino threw the ball away allowing Carlin to reach third and Brian Friday to score. The pickoff would have been the third out and Britton would have gotten out of the inning giving up just one run. The next batter was Brandon Moss who tattooed the ball over the right field wall to give the Indians a 4-0 lead. Britton would struggle again in the 4th inning but work his way out of the jam and he would be relieved by Mike Hinckley in the top of the 5th. Hinckley went three innings allowing only one hit and no runs walking none as striking out 4 Indians.
Nolan Reimold contributed a 3 run home run and hustled on the bases
The Indians would hold that lead into the 6th inning. Starting pitcher Charlie Morton pitched well for 5 innings limiting the Tides to just 1 hit in the first 5 innings. In the 6th the wheels came off in large part due to the weather doing to the Indians what it had done to the Tides earlier in the game. Michael Aubrey singled and advanced when Robert Andino got on due an error by Indians Third Baseman Doug Bernier. Nolan Reimold grounded softly to third base and Bernier went to make the play and threw the ball away into foul territory past first base. Both Aubrey and Andino would score and the score was 4-2. In the 7th Morton walked Paco Figueroa and was taken out of the game in favor of Travis Chick. Chick had little success. Matt Angle laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to send Figueroa to second. Jeff Salazar singled and Figueroa went to third. Michael Aubrey doubled to score Figueroa and send Salazar to third. Robert Andino singled to score Salazar and was followed by Scott Moore who singled home Aubrey sending Andino to third. Nolan Reimold grounded in a force out and Andino scored before Chick retired the side with the Tides now leading 6-4.
Jeff Salazar hit his 15th home run of the season
Alberto Castillo relieved Hinckley in the top of the 8th and gave up a single to Brandon Moss and double to Mitch Jones. He got Jim Negrych to ground out which scored Moss and then gave up a double to Jonathan Van Every to score Jones top tie the game at 6. Castillo got the hook for Jim Hoey and Hoey stuck out both Luke Carlin and Brian Friday swinging to end the inning, the final pitch to Friday registered 98 miles an hour according the scoreboard radar.
A soaking wet Michel Hernandez waits for the grounds crew to do their magic
No with the score tied the Tides went to work and began to beat the Indians senseless. Daniel Moskos replaced Chick and gave up a single to Paco Figueroa. He struck out Matt Angle and with one out faced Jeff Salazar. Salazar leads the Tides in home runs but had not hit one since before he went on the DL. Jeff plastered a pitch by Moskos far over the right field wall and the Tides led again by a score of 8-6. The Tides were not done however and after Michael Aubrey popped out Robert Andino doubled off the right field wall. Andino stole third and Scott Moore walked. Nolan Reimold stepped to the plate and he too delivered the long ball going the opposite way and sending Moskos’ pitch over the right field wall nearly to the Elizabeth River. The Tides now led 11-6 and finally and mercifully for the Indians Rhyne Hughes grounded out to end the inning.
Denis Sarfate got the closed out the game striking out two
Denis Sarfate came in to close the game in a non-save situation. He sent the Indians down in order striking out Doug Bernier and Brian Bixler swinging and got Alex Presley to ground out to second baseman Paco Figueroa who threw to Michael Aubrey at first to end the game.
The win was the second come from behind win for the Tides in as many days and in this game Jim Hoey (3-0 2.16 ERA) got the win and Daniel Moskos (0-4 9.60 ERA) the loss. The Indians had 6 runs on 8 hits with 2 errors leaving 6 men on base, the Tides 11 runs on 11 hits and 5 errors with 8 men stranded. The teams meet tonight at Harbor Park with Henricus Vanden Hurk newly acquired from the Marlins by the Orioles making his first start for the Tides and Micheal Crotta (5-5 4.88 ERA) on the Hill for the Indians.
Hopefully the weather is better tonight than last night.
Peace
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