Andrés Chaparro hit a two-run homer to cap a five-run second inning and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders tagged former Grassfield High star Garrett Stallings for six runs in a 10-2 victory over the Tides before 9,298 fans Saturday night at Harbor Park.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (42-44, 8-4 in second half) evened the three-game series at a game apiece.
Stallings pitched well in his first two starts for Norfolk (56-31, 8-5), allowing a combined three runs in 12 innings with 15 strikeouts and three walks. But the RailRiders got to him early in Saturday’s game, and he lasted only two innings.
Ben Rortvedt hit an RBI single to put the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate on top in the first inning.
Stallings allowed the first three batters to reach in the second inning. Estevan Florial’s RBI double made it 2-0 and Everson Pereira’s two-run double made it 4-0. Chaparro’s two-run shot, his 17th homer of the season, increased the lead to 6-0.
Meanwhile, RailRiders starter Clayton Beeter blanked the Tides on two hits in 4.1 innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre added two more runs in the third off new Tides pitcher Chayce McDermott — who earned a promotion from Double-A on Friday — and another in the fifth to make it 9-0 before Norfolk finally got on the board. Joey Ortiz hit an RBI single to center in the bottom of the fifth to score Connor Norby, who walked.
Ortiz has reached base safely in 28 of his past 30 games.
The Tides scored their other run in the seventh on Heston Kjerstad’s RBI groundout. Kjerstad was the only Norfolk player to have more than one hit, going 2 for 5. He extended his hitting streak to six games.
Every Scranton/Wilkes-Barre player had at least one hit, and the team finished with 12.
The two teams will wrap up their series at 4:05 p.m. Sunday with a Bark in the Park promotion.
