Jacksonville splits doubleheader with Norfolk

NORFOLK, Va. – After falling 6-5 in game one, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp salvaged a 1-0 win in game two to split their doubleheader with the Norfolk Tides Wednesday night at Harbor Park.

With one out in the top of the fourth, Troy Johnston tripled and scored two batters later on a base hit from Griffin Conine pushing Jacksonville (47-50, 12-10) ahead 1-0 in game two.

The Jumbo Shrimp got a great pitching effort from RHP Shaun Anderson (W, 2-1) as he tossed six shutout innings, issuing just two hits with five strikeouts against one walk.

Norfolk (47-50, 11-11) mounted a late comeback thanks to a power surge. Trailing by two in the bottom of the seventh, Shayne Fontana and Terrin Vavra drew consecutive walks and Nick Maton (11) blasted a walkoff three-run home run to give the Tides a 6-5 win.

The Jumbo Shrimp drew first blood in the top of the first. Jonathan Davis led off the game with a base hit and went to third on a single from Javier Sanoja two batters later. With runners at the corners, Jhonny Pereda whacked a two-out, two-run single giving Jacksonville a 2-0 advantage.

Jacksonville added to their lead in the top of the second thanks to mistakes from Norfolk’s defense. Marty Costes started the inning with a base hit. A double from José Devers, coupled with a fielding error allowed Costes to score the third run of the game for the Jumbo Shrimp. Devers went to third on a groundout and Davis drew a walk. With runners at the corners, Victor Mesa Jr. reached on the second error of the inning, allowing Devers to score to increase Jacksonville’s lead to 4-0. After a flyout, Johnston knocked a base hit pushing Davis to third. Jhonny Pereda reached first on the Tides’ third error of the inning and Davis scored from third to make the score 5-0. Mesa Jr. was thrown out trying to score on the error which ended the frame.

Norfolk’s offense started off slow but got going in the bottom of the sixth. Maverick Handley and Hudson Haskin started with back-to-back singles. After a flyout and a strikeout, Kyle Stowers (18) blasted a three-run homer off Anthony Maldonado (L, 4-4) cutting the deficit to 5-3.

Jacksonville continues their series with the Norfolk Tides, Thursday at 12:05 p.m. RHP Max Meyer (41-3, 4.34 ERA) will start for Jacksonville and Norfolk will counter with RHP Brandon Young (2-1, 3.76 ERA). Coverage begins at 11:50 a.m. on milb.streamguys1.com/Jacksonville.

ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The team calls 121 Financial Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.