Offense Stalls For Norfolk in Series Opening Loss

NORFOLK, Va --- The Norfolk Tides (28-24) fell to the Gwinnett Stripers (24-28), 4-2, on Tuesday night at Harbor Park. After the offense was hot during the road trip at Worcester, Norfolk was limited to three hits in the series opening loss.

It was Gwinnett that struck first Tuesday in the first inning, with Eli White knocking an RBI single and Phillip Evans did the same on to put the Stripers up 2-0. Norfolk did respond immediately in the bottom-half when Jackson Holliday launched a leadoff home run to cut the lead to 2-1.

One more run was scored in the second by Gwinnett when David Fletcher knocked an RBI single to go up 3-0. That would be the last run allowed by Tides starter Chayce McDermott. After throwing over 35 pitches in the first inning, McDermott settled in and finished in 4.0 innings of work. He gave up seven hits and three walks to give up the three runs, but struck out eight batters. He finished with 88 pitches, 52 strikes, but was handed the loss.

McDermott’s counterpart Grant Holmes pitched very well after giving up the leadoff homer to Holliday. It ended up being the only hit he gave up, going 5.0 innings and walked two while striking out seven. Norfolk managed to score one more run after Holmes exited, when Daniel Johnson ripped an RBI single in the sixth to make it a 3-2 ball game.

But Norfolk would not prevail, as Gwinnett scored one more run in the seventh on a fielding error to cap the 4-2 victory. Game two of the series starts Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. RHP Brandon Young will make his Triple-A debut for the Tides, while RHP Taylor Widener (2-2, 3.48) will throw for Gwinnett.