Norfolk Loses Despite Stowers, Mayo Homers

MEMPHIS, TN --- The Norfolk Tides (5-8, 41-47) fell to the Memphis Redbirds (8-6, 46-43), 7-2, on Wednesday night at AutoZone Park. Despite four scoreless innings from starter Bruce Zimmermann and back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning by Kyle Stowers and Coby Mayo, the Tides dropped their first game this road trip against the Redbirds.

Both Memphis and Norfolk traded zeros through the first four innings as Tides starter Bruce Zimmermann allowed just one base runner during that span. Then after the Redbirds worked a single and a walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth, Jose Fermin and Jared Young notched back-to-back RBI hits to give Memphis a 2-0 lead.

The Redbirds loaded the bases following Young’s RBI double with two more walks, and Jordan Walker extended their lead to 4-0 on an RBI single that brought home two more runners.

The Tides quickly responded in the top of the sixth, tacking on two runs to cut the deficit to 4-2. First, Kyle Stowers launched his 17th home run of the season over the right field wall. Two pitches later, Coby Mayo socked his team-leading 19th long ball of the year to straightaway center field.

Memphis led off the bottom of the seventh with a double by Young. Following two outs, Jordan Walker roped an RBI double to the center field wall that brought home Young to give the Redbirds a 5-2 advantage. Memphis tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth thanks to an RBI triple from Cesar Prieto, extending the Redbirds lead to 6-2. Thomas Saggese further piled on Memphis’s lead with a sacrifice fly out to bring home Prieto to put the Redbirds up 7-2.

Game three of the series starts tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m., with RHP Justin Armbruester (1-6, 8.23) starting for the Tides. Memphis has yet to announce a starter for the game.

POSTGAME NOTES

Stowers Power: Kyle Stowers finished tonight’s loss going 1-for-3 at the plate with a home run, an RBI and a run...since returning to the Tides on June 22 at Lehigh Valley, Stowers has collected nine extra base hits (three doubles, a triple, six home runs) while driving in 16 runners in 15 games...he has now collected 114 extra-base hits in his Triple-A career with the Tides, three XBH behind Christian Walker (117) for the all-time lead in Orioles affiliate franchise history.

Extra Mayo: Following Kyle Stowers’ home run, Coby Mayo launched his team-leading 19th long ball of the season as part of an 1-for-4 day at the plate...it marked the fifth time this season that the Tides notched back-to-back long balls, with the last time coming on June 14 against Memphis when Billy Cook and Daniel Johnson earned the feat...Mayo has now reached base safely in 17 of 19 games since returning from the Injured List on June 18 at Lehigh Valley...during that span, he is batting .319 (23-for-72) with 15 runs, four doubles, six home runs, 18 BRI and 13 walks.