Kyle Stowers hit an inside-the-park grand slam and Chayce McDermott tossed one-hit ball over six scoreless innings as the Norfolk Tides blanked the Charlotte Knights 4-0 in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at Harbor Park.
The Knights (40-64 overall, 5-24 in second half) overcame a 5-0 deficit to win the second game 11-7 and earn a split.
In the opener, the Tides (65-38, 17-12) managed only three hits off Charlotte pitchers Alejandro Mateo, Jordan Holloway and Nate Fisher before getting to Fisher (5-10) in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jose Godoy singled to lead off, Connor Norby reached on a fielding error and Heston Kjerstad singled to load the bases with no outs.
After Joey Ortiz flied out to right, Stowers hit a flare to center field that Knights outfielder Clint Frazier dove for, but couldn’t come up with it. The ball got past him and rolled to the wall, clearing the bases.
🚨INSIDE THE PARK GRAND SLAM🚨@KyleStowers scores four without the ball leaving the park! Norfolk leads 4-0 into the 6th!#RisingTide #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/G7xXeBHirn
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) August 2, 2023
That was all that McDermott needed to improve to 3-0 with the Tides. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning to lower his ERA to 1.89 and finished with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Nick Vespi capped the shutout with a scoreless seventh, striking out two.
Kjerstad had two of the Tides’ six hits.
In the second game, Norfolk jumped out to a 5-0 lead with three runs in the first inning and two in the second. Daz Cameron’s two-run double was the key hit in the first and Ortiz hit an RBI single in the second.
Charlotte stormed back with six runs in the top of the fourth, two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth. Frazier hit a three-run triple in the fourth.
Ortiz finished the second game 4 for 4 with two RBIs, while Kjerstad went 3 for 3 with four runs.
Crushing the doubleheader tonight was @hestonkjerstad!
Between both games, he went 5-for-6 with five runs, a double and a walk.#RisingTide pic.twitter.com/2PNzA670TP
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) August 3, 2023
Tides reliever Kyle Dowdy (7-3) took the loss, allowing six runs (three earned) in one-third of an inning. Noah Denoyer started the game and pitched three hitless innings.
The teams will play a 12:05 p.m. game Thursday.
