The Norfolk Tides (37-40) fell to the Gwinnett Stripers (37-40), 6-1, on Satruday night at Harbor Park.
Terrin Vavra gave the Tides an early 1-0 lead in the first when he hit his second lead-off home run of this season, but the lead was short lived as the Stripers responded with a run in the second through a two-out RBI-double from Greyson Jenista.
Gwinnett added to their lead the following inning when Drew Waters hit a two-run home run and added another run in the fourth on an RBI-single from Joe Dunand to take a 4-1 lead.
Despite suffering the loss, Blaine Knight was solid in his start, striking out a season-high eight batters over 5.0 innings of work, which matched his longest outing of the season.
Following Vavra’s home run, the Tides offense was stymied by the Stripers pitching staff, who held the home club to just four hits over the final eight innings, all of which were singles, and Norfolk had just one runner reach third base.
Both teams will be back in action tomorrow night at Harbor Park as they face off for the 18th and final time this season. The Tides are set to start LHP Bruce Zimmermann (1-0, 4.91) and the Stripers will counter with LHP Tucker Davidson (2-4, 4.39). First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m.