Home Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jumps out early, cruises to 10-2 Saturday night win over Norfolk
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Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jumps out early, cruises to 10-2 Saturday night win over Norfolk

Chris Graham

norfolk tides The Norfolk Tides (56-31) fell to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (42-44), 10-2, on Saturday night at Harbor Park.

Getting the early jump on the Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, this evening was Ben Rortvedt, who singled home a run in the first to give the RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, their first run of the game.

Two doubles off the bats of Estevan Florial and Everson Pereira added three runs for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the second. The RailRiders capped their second inning scoring spree with a home run from Andres Chaparro that put the visitors up by six early.

After Jamie Westbrook doubled to lead off the third, he scored on a fielding error in the next at-bat. Florial then singled to left to bring home the eighth run of the game for the RailRiders.

Michael Hermosillo doubled in the fifth the bring the game to a 9-0 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lead. The Tides answered shortly after as they cracked the scoreboard for the first time in the game in the bottom of the fifth when Joey Ortiz scorched a ball up the middle for an RBI knock.

Tallying another run in the seventh was Anthony Bemboom as he scored on a broken bat ground out from Heston Kjerstad that brought the game to 9-2. A single off the bat of Westbrook extended the RailRider lead back to eight in the top of the ninth, an advantage they would keep as the Tides fell by a 10-2 score to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Norfolk is back in action tomorrow for the series finale against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. The Tides are expected to send LHP Bruce Zimmermann (3-3, 3.50) to the hill while the RailRiders are expected to give RHP Mitch Spence (7-4, 4.45) the starting nod.

Game Notes 

  • Heston Kjerstad went 2-for-5 with an RBI…he is riding a six-game hit streak and is batting .478 (11-for-23) with eight runs, a double, a triple, a home run, six RBI and four walks over that span…he has also hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and is posting a 1.089 OPS in those games which ranks first on the team compared to each batter’s most recent ten games on Norfolk’s current roster…since July 4, Kjerstad ranks third in the International League with a .500 batting average while ranking seventh in OPS (1.361).
  • Joey Ortiz went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk…he has reached base safely in 28 of his last 30 games with the Tides and is posting a slash line of .341/.397/.566/.963 in that stretch…over those 30 games, he has scored 30 runs while recording 14 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 22 RBI, 15 walks and six stolen bases…since June 29, he leads the International League with eight doubles.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].