Norfolk Falls to Durham, 5-2

NORFOLK, V.A. --- The Norfolk Tides (4-6, 40-45) fell to the Durham Bulls (5-6, 41-45), 5-2, on Friday Night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Norfolk collected just four hits in the loss and fell for the first time in Durham this season.

Both Tucker Davidson and Jacob Lopez traded zeros through the first three innings, with neither team collecting a hit until a leadoff single from Ronny Simon in the top of the fourth. After Simon advanced to second on a wild pitch, Rene Pinto drove a single through the right side of the infield to bring home Simon and give Durham a 1-0 lead. Jake Mangum followed a walk issued to Austin Shenton with an RBI double to bring home Pinto and extend the Bulls lead to 2-0.

The Tides strung together two singles in the top of the fifth, marking their first two base hits of the evening, but could not bring home either runner and remained trailing 2-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Durham collected two straight singles and brought Simon home to score once again to extend their lead to 3-0 over the Tides.

Norfolk added its first run in the top of the sixth, cutting the deficit to 3-1. After a one out walk from Coby Mayo and a single by Garrett Cooper, Daniel Johnson’s ground ball allowed Mayo to come home for the Tides first run of the night.

The Tides got two men on once again in the top of the seventh inning with no one out following a walk issued to Niko Goodrum and a fielding error, but could not bring home either runner. After setting down Norfolk in order in the top of the eighth inning, the Bulls further extended their lead to 5-1 thanks to an RBI double from Bob Seymour that brought in two runners.

Cooper led off the top of the ninth inning with the Tides down four runs. He took the first pitch he saw 378 feet over the right field wall to cut the deficit to 5-2 for his fourth home run with Norfolk thus far. The Tides went down in order after that and fell to the Bulls, 5-2, for the first time in Durham this season.

The Tides will finish up their three game trip to Durham tomorrow night, capping off six straight games against the Bulls. RHP Chayce McDermott (2-5, 3.58) will start for Norfolk, while the Bulls will throw LHP Mason Mongtomery (0-5, 6.08).

POSTGAME NOTES

Garrett Gets On: Garrett Cooper finished 2-for-4 with a home run, an RBI and a run, ending the loss as the lone Tides hitter with a multi-hit game and an extra base hit...in eight games with Norfolk, Cooper is slashing .345/.472/.793/1.265 with six runs, a double, four home runs and 14 RBI.

Welcome to Norfolk: In his Tides debut, reliever Burch Smith worked a scoreless inning in relief, allowing a hit while striking out two of the three batters he faced...he is the fifth pitcher to work a scoreless inning of relief in his Tides debut this season after Matt Krook, Kaleb Ort, Jonathan Heasley and Corbin Martin also reached that feat earlier this year...through 40 career Triple-A games, Smith has struck out 199 batters while walking just 76.