Grayson Rodriguez looks impressive in 3-2 Norfolk Tides win over Worcester

The Norfolk Tides (45-20) defeated the Worcester Red Sox (32-34), 3-2, on Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.

Strikeouts and swing-and-miss stuff were in abundance to kick things off this afternoon with both starting pitchers throwing up scoreless frame after scoreless frame in the early parts of the game.

The Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, would be the first to break the goose egg in the run column as Heston Kjerstad led off the home half of the fourth with a home run to left-center, giving the Tides a 1-0 lead.

Grayson Rodriguez carried his no-hit bid into the sixth, but Stephen Scott cracked the hit column for Worcester with a two-run shot to left-center that put the Red Sox ahead 2-1.

It wouldn’t take long for Norfolk to recapture the lead as Robbie Glendinning capitalized on 2-0 pitch that he took the other way, clearing the wall for a two-run go-ahead shot that scored Kjerstad, putting the Tides back in front in the sixth.

Entering the game in the ninth with a save opportunity was Darwinzon Hernández who successfully closed the door on the Red Sox, earning his first career save and giving the Tides the 3-2 victory.

Game Notes

Grayson Rodriguez allowed two runs on two hits over six innings of work this afternoon with 11 strikeouts…he held the Red Sox hitless through five frames, making it the second consecutive home start where he has tossed five no-hit innings to open the ballgame as he held Gwinnett batters out of the hit column through five frames on June 3…his 11 strikeouts are a season-high and he has now reached double-digit strikeouts in back-to-back starts as he punched out 10 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre batters on June 9.

Heston Kjerstad went 2-for-4 at the dish with two runs scored and a solo home run…it’s his second consecutive multi-hit performance and has gone 5-for-9 over his last two games with three extra-base hits and four runs scored.

Next Up

Norfolk is back at it tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Expected to toe the rubber for the Tides is LHP Drew Rom (5-4, 4.56) and he will face off against LHP Brandon Walter (1-5, 6.44) who is slated to make the start for Worcester.