It was Jacksonville, the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, who found their way onto the scoreboard first tonight as Paul McIntosh singled to center in the second, allowing the runner on third to jog home for the game’s first run and the Jacksonville lead.
Troy Johnston checked in with an RBI single of his own in the third. With two away in the frame, Jacob Amaya tacked on another Jacksonville run as his groundout allowed a run to cross, giving Jacksonville a 3-0 lead.
The Jumbo Shrimp continued to add on in the following inning and kicked off a five run frame with a Xavier Edwards two-run single. After Edwards swiped his 30th bag of the year to put ducks on the pond, Johnston launched a three-run home run to right field to cap the scoring in the fourth, and Jacksonville led by an 8-0 score at the end of the inning.
A sacrifice fly off the bat of Edwards plated a run for Jacksonville and added on to their commanding lead in the fifth.
The Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, scratched their first run of the game in the sixth when Heston Kjerstad stung a line drive to center that skipped past the diving outfielder to roll all the way to the wall, allowing him to round the bags for an inside-the-park home run.
In the eighth, Joey Ortiz added another Norfolk run with an RBI single to left field that allowed Connor Norby to score easily from third base.
The Jacksonville bats stayed hot in the eighth as they picked up two more runs to take an 11-2 lead on an RBI single and a sac fly and the would tag Norfolk with the loss in the series opener.
Norfolk looks to bounce back tomorrow night against Jacksonville with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. RHP Chayce McDermott (3-0, 1.89) is slated to make the start for Norfolk and the Jumbo Shrimp will trot out RHP Bryan Hoeing (1-0, 2.08).
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Chris Graham
