Hunt Homers in Tides Debut to Help Clinch Series

WORCESTER, MA --- The Norfolk Tides (27-23) defeated the Worcester Red Sox (23-27), 9-5,on Saturday at Polar Park. After trailing 3-0 early, Norfolk scored four unanswered runs to win and finished off the Red Sox in the ninth with another four runs for their fourth straight game with a win and their seventh of their previous eight games.

Worcester scored their first three runs in the first and second inning on home runs, blasting a two-run homer in the first, then a solo homer in the second. Nick Sogard hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the first inning, then Niko Kavadas launched a solo shot in the third to give Worcester the early 3-0 lead.

That was the only damage Tides starter Cade Povich allowed today. He ended up knotching his second straight quality start, going 6.0 innings and allowed three runs on five hits (including the two homers) and two walks while striking out six batters. He threw 95 pitches, 61 of them for strikes.

Povich left as the winning pitcher of record thanks to the Tides scoring two runs in the fourth inning, and a run each in the fifth and sixth inning. In the fourth, Billy Cook broke the scoring open on an RBI single. Daniel Johnson followed with an RBI double that scored Cook to bring the Tides within a run.

In the fifth, Hudson Haskin tied things up on an RBI single. Johnson came through for the Tides in the sixth by ripping an RBI single through the right side and gave them the 4-3 lead.

Johnson capped his great evening with an RBI single in the eighth to put the Tides up 5-3. He finished the night 4-for-4 with a double and three RBI. But Worcester retaliated when Kavadas came through with an RBI single, then Chase Meidroth knocked in an RBI single himself to put the game at 5-5.

Blake Hunt, who made his Baltimore organizational debut today, launched a go-ahead solo homer to clinch the win tonight and the series. Connor Norby followed with a three-run double to put the game at 9-5. The series finale is set for 1:05 p.m. tomorrow at Worcester. It will be a rematch of Tuesday’s pitching matchup, with RHP Justin Armbruester (1-3, 9.35) on the mound while RHP Josh Winckowski (0-1, 2.84) will go for Worcester.

POSTGAME NOTES

The Jet Takes Off: Leading the Tides offense today was Daniel Johnson, who went 4-for-4 with a double and three RBI...the four hits tied his career-high and is the first time he had that many hits since July 15, 2019 with Columbus at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre...it was the fourth time overall he’s had that many hits in his career.

Welcome to Birdland, Blake: In his first game in the Orioles organization, Blake Hunt started at catcher and went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth...On May 22, the Orioles traded Mike Baumann and Michael Perez to Seattle in exchange for Hunt...combining his time with Tacoma, it was his fifth home run of the season.