Tides Drop Series Opener to Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, P.A. --- The Norfolk Tides (35-35) lost to the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs (30-38), 9-5, on Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park. The Tides combined for three extra-base hits and scored multiple runs in two innings, but were unable to climb back late against the Ironpigs and fell in the series opening game against Lehigh Valley.

The Ironpigs kicked off the scoring on Tuesday night, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a solo home run from Weston Wilson, his ninth of the season. Lehigh Valley extended its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Wilson once again took a pitch from Justin Armbruester deep for a three-run home run.

Nick Maton led off the top of the fifth with a single to right field, followed by Hudson Haskin, who hit his fifth double of the season. That set up Maverick Handley, who skied a sacrifice fly out to left field to bring home Maton and cut the Tides deficit to 4-1. Shayne Fontana followed with a sacrifice fly out in a pinch hit role to score Haskin and make it 4-2 Lehigh Valley.

Then on the first pitch he saw, Heston Kjerstad lined an RBI single back up the middle to bring home Anthony Servideo and cut the Ironpigs lead to 4-3. Lehigh Valley added another run in the bottom half of the inning when Cal Stevenson scored to make it 5-3.

The Ironpigs tacked on another run on the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI single from Stevenson, extending their lead to 6-3. Norfolk added back two runs in the top of the eighth when Maton launched a two-run home run, his seventh of the season with Norfolk, to cut the deficit to 7-5.

To cap off the night, Lehigh Valley strung together two straight RBI hits to extend their lead to 9-5. The Tides were set down in order in the top of the ninth, sealing the series-opening loss to the Ironpigs.

The Tides will take on the Ironpigs tomorrow night in the second game of their six-game series. The Tides will start RHP Chayce McDermott (2-4, 3.62), while RHP Freddy Tarnok (0-1, 9.00) will take the mound for Lehigh Valley. First pitch is 7:05 p.m.

POSTGAME NOTES

Norby Knocks: Before getting pulled for a pinch hitter, Connor Norby went 2-for-2 with a double in his 15th multi-hit game of the season...the double, his 18th of the season with the Tides, marked his 60th two-bagger with Norfolk...he is now tied for the fourth-most doubles in Orioles affiliate history with Drew Dosch with 60 after passing Oscar Salazar.

Maton Mashes: For the second straight game, Nick Maton finished with multiple hits after going 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI, a walk and two runs...he has now reached base safely in 10 of his last 11 games (since June 6 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre)...during that span, Maton is batting .375 (12-for-32) with seven runs, two doubles, two home runs, five RBI and 10 walks.

Hackin’ Haskin: In the loss, Hudson Haskin went 1-for-3 with a double, a run and a stolen base, snapping his 0-for-8 skid...the double, his fifth of the season, marked Haskin’s 55th career two-bagger and the 88th extra-base hit of his minor league career...Haskin is now tied for second with Billy Cook and Shayne Fontana for the second-most stolen bags among Tides hitters.