Former Grassfield High star Garrett Stallings pitched one of his best games of the season and Joey Ortiz sparked a four-run eighth inning with a tie-breaking two-run double as the Norfolk Tides defeated the Charlotte Knights 6-3 before 4,606 fans Tuesday night at Harbor Park.
The Tides (64-37, 16-11 in second half) took the opener of a scheduled seven-game series after splitting a six-game set at home with Nashville last week.
Stallings (3-3) allowed two unearned runs on six hits in eight innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. It was his longest outing of the season and he matched his season-high in strikeouts. He lowered his ERA from 5.02 to 3.93.
Connor Norby staked Norfolk to a 2-0 lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the first inning — his 15th long ball of the season — and an RBI double to left in the second.
Charlotte (39-63, 4-23), the Chicago White Sox’s Triple-A affiliate and the worst team record-wise in the International League, tied it with two runs in the top of the sixth. Clint Frazier reached on a fielder’s choice and Erik Gonzalez scored on throwing errors by the Tides’ Ortiz and Kyle Stowers. Victor Reyes then plated Frazier with an RBI double to right.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the eighth, when Norfolk took control. Maverick Handley led off with a walk and stole second. Norby then walked and Heston Kjerstad grounded into a forceout at second to put runners at the corners. Ortiz followed with his double to right to score Handley and Kjerstad and make it 4-2.
Stowers reached on a throwing error to score Ortiz and after Josh Lester singled, Daz Cameron hit an RBI single to make it 6-2.
Logan Gillaspie relieved Stallings in the ninth and allowed Lenyn Sosa’s 16th homer of the season, but closed it out.
The Tides finished with six hits as Charlotte starter Garrett Davila gave up only three in seven innings. Reliever Jordan Leasure (0-1) took the loss, allowing all four runs — two of which were unearned — in the eighth.
The two teams are set to play a doubleheader starting at 5:35 p.m. Wednesday. The second game is a makeup of a July 3 postponed contest.
