The Norfolk Tides (84-54) fell to the Memphis Redbirds (66-73), 3-2, on Tuesday night at Harbor Park.
Leading off the final home series of the season for the Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, with a scoreless frame to open play was Justin Armbruester, who worked around a leadoff walk while recording a strikeout to end the top of the first.
It was Memphis, the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, who got on the board first this evening with Kramer Robertson taking a 2-2 pitch the other way for a three-run blast that landed in the party deck, giving the Redbirds the early lead.
The Tides responded in the third when Daz Cameron put a ball in the air to center field with the bases loaded to scratch a run on a sacrifice fly to put Norfolk on the board.
An inning later, Norfolk tacked on another with Coby Mayo singling through the left side of the infield to bring Jackson Holliday around from second for the second run of the game for the Tides, pulling within one run of the Memphis lead in the fourth.
A bullpen combination of TJ McFarland, Mike Baumann, and Tyler Wells kept Memphis out of the hit column, racking up four strikeouts over the last three innings to keep the Tides within striking distance. Norfolk was unable to rally, and the Redbirds came away with the 3-2 series opening win.
Norfolk looks to get back in the win column tomorrow night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. against Memphis. Scheduled to take the hill for the Tides is RHP Austin Voth (0-0, 4.32) while RHP Jake Woodford (0-1, 2.55) will toe the rubber for the Redbirds.