NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk Tides (36-15) defeated the Gwinnett Stripers (22-29), 9-7, on Tuesday night at Harbor Park. After surrendering a six-run lead, the Tides were able to rally in the ninth with a pair of home runs to earn the walk-off victory.
The Tides got things started with a bang on a colder than usual evening as Jordan Westburg took a 1-1 pitch the other way for a solo home run that cleared the Tides bullpen in right, giving Norfolk their first run of the game in the first inning of play.
After a pair of productive at-bats in the second that resulted in walks, Shayne Fontana hit a long single with the ball leaving his bat at 103.1 MPH, hitting off the right field wall on the fly to bring around two runs. A successful hit and run moved Fontana over to third and he was able to jog home on a Westburg single through the left side, putting a fourth run on the board for the Tides.
With two away in the frame, Josh Lester popped a ball up into shallow left field that fell into between converging Gwinnett fielders, allowing two more runs to score. By the end of the inning, the Tides had batted around and led the Stripers by six.
A two-out walk followed by consecutive singles, the latter of the base knocks coming from Forrest Wall, plated a run for the Stripers in the top of the third. The result of a fielding error in the fourth tallied another run for Gwinnett.
Braden Shewmake was able to capitalize on two walks drawn by Striper batters as he lined a double into the right-center gap to drive in two runs in the fifth. Following a Nick Solak RBI double, Gwinnett would load the bases and take a 7-6 lead on a Joshua Fuentes single hit down the first base line that scored two runs.
The bats would go silent in the following innings until Lewin Díaz put a jolt into one in the ninth to tie the game with a solo home run to right field. With one away in the inning and a runner on, Ben DeLuzio got a pitch he could handle and sent it over the right field fence for a walk-off home run, giving the Tides the 9-7 win.
Norfolk is back at it tomorrow with a doubleheader against Gwinnett with game one scheduled to begin at 5:35 p.m.