Norfolk Tides open second half with 12-5 win over Charlotte Knights

The Norfolk Tides (49-26) defeated the Charlotte Knights (35-41), 12-5, on Wednesday night at Harbor Park.

The Norfolk offense was in full swing to begin the game as four consecutive batters reached base in the first with Josh Lester capping the streak with a single to right that put the Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, ahead by two.

Joey Ortiz followed up Lester with a groundout that brought in another run, and the Tides led 3-0 by the end of the opening frame.

After Maverick Handley reached on a walk in the second, Colton Cowser roped a double into left field to bring Handley all the way around from first. Charlotte, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, found its way onto the scoreboard with a Billy Hamilton sacrifice fly in the third. The Tides answered in the home half with a first pitch home run off the bat of Connor Norby that put the Tides up 5-1.

The scoring flurry would continue as Oscar Colás launched a ball deep to center for a solo home run, pulling the Knights within three of the Norfolk advantage.

A slight scoring drought from either side was disrupted in the bottom of the sixth as Handley checked in with an RBI double. This kicked off a four-run inning that included a Ryan Mountcastle double that scored two and a Heston Kjerstad single that scored one to put the Tides up by seven.

A Charlotte run scored in the seventh on a Sebastian Rivero sac fly, but the Tides added three more in the bottom half of the frame  to go up 12-3 as Handley cashed in another run-scoring double, this time bringing around two. Rivero would hit a two-run home run in the ninth for Charlotte, but the Tides would eventually came away with the 12-5 victory.

Norfolk is back at it tomorrow with matinee baseball as first pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. against Charlotte. The Tides are expected to send LHP Drew Rom (5-5, 5.16) to the hill while the Knights are anticipating LHP Sammy Peralta (3-2, 4.89) will make the start.

Game Notes

Colton Cowser went 2-for-3 in the box with a run, a double, an RBI and two walks…Among 21 players in the International League with at least 100 at-bats out of the leadoff spot, Colton Cowser ranks first in OPS (1.057) while collecting seven doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 27 RBI and 33 walks.

Grayson Rodriguez picked up his fourth quality start as a Tide in six Norfolk starts this season…In the month of June he leads International League pitchers with 39 strikeouts.

Ryan Mountcastle picked up a multi-hit game by going 2-for-5 tonight with two RBI…in 17 career games against the Knights, he is batting .403 (27-for-67) with 11 runs, three doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI and five walks while slashing .438/.582/1.020.