The Durham Bulls pulled off a miraculous comeback, scoring six runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to stun the Norfolk Tides 6-5 on Tuesday night in North Carolina and spoil another gem by Tides starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez.
Osleivis Basabe capped the rally with a walk-off three-run double after Nick Dini’s bases-loaded walk and Tristan Gray’s two-run single to right. The victory helped the Bulls (44-38, 4-3 in second half) take a 1-0 series lead.
Rodriguez moved a step closer to returning to Baltimore, tossing six scoreless innings and tying a career high with 12 strikeouts. He gave up only three hits and walked none. In six starts with the Tides, he is 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA.
Meanwhile, Tides outfielder Colton Cowser didn’t start the game, and reports emerged on social media that the Baltimore Orioles would promote him to the majors.
Source: Colton Cowser is traveling to NY to join #orioles
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) July 5, 2023
The game was scoreless until the top of the seventh, when Norfolk (52-28, 4-2) took a 4-0 lead. Daz Cameron hit an RBI double, Cesar Prieto added an RBI single and Maverick Handley hit a two-run homer. It was Handley’s first with the Tides.
The Tides added another run in the eighth on Connor Norby’s RBI single to make it 5-0.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez and relievers Easton Lucas and Joey Krehbiel had combined for eight scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and fanning 15.
Right-handed Reliever Wandisson Charles started the ninth for the Tides. He walked the first two batters, but then struck out the next two. Needing only one more out, he gave up a single to Kameron Misner to load the bases and walked Dini to allow a run.
Norfolk manager Buck Britton replaced Charles with right-hander Logan Gillaspie (1-2), who gave up Gray’s two-run single, walked Jonathan Aranda and surrendered Basabe’s bases-clearing double. It was Gillaspie’s third blown save of the season.
Cameron and Prieto had two hits apiece for the Tides.
The teams are set to play again at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday.
