The Norfolk Tides will come home on a rare losing streak, falling 7-4 Sunday afternoon at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before 4,134 fans in Pennsylvania. Jamie Westbrook led the RailRiders with four RBIs.
In a series delayed two days because of poor air quality because of wildfires in Canada, the International League-leading Tides (43-19) won the first three games but the RailRiders won the last two.
Norfolk (29-33) led 3-0 and 4-1 Sunday but couldn’t hold off the New York Yankees’ top affiliate, which socked three home runs.
Terrin Vavra began the contest with the Tides’ only homer of the day, and Joey Ortiz’s RBI double and Daz Cameron’s run-scoring single gave Norfolk a 3-0 lead in the first inning. But RailRiders left-hander Tanner Tully raised his game, finishing 6 2/3 innings.
Scranton came back against Tides starter Ryan Watson, with Westbrook drawing a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first.
In the top of the fifth, Vavra tripled and scored on Connor Norby’s sacrifice fly for a 4-1 lead, but Watson couldn’t hold the lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Franchy Cordero and Elijah Dunham drew walks, and Westbrook tied the score at 4 with a two-out homer to left.
Leading off the RailRiders’ eighth, Carlos Narvaez broke that deadlock by lining a home run to right field off reliever Chris Vallimont (2-3). Brandon Lockridge doubled, and two outs later, Estevan Florial lifted the margin to 7-4 by pounding a homer to right-center.
Reliever Tanner Myatt (1-0) gained the victory, and Matt Bowman pitched a shutout ninth for a save.
The Tides are off Monday before playing host to Worcester, the top farm club of the Boston Red Sox, for a six-game series at Harbor Park.
Saturday night, after losing 4-2 in Game 1 of a doubleheader, Scranton snapped Norfolk’s five-game winning streak with a 7-6, 11-inning triumph in Game 2.
Norfolk has hit plenty of up-and-coming and veteran pitchers hard, but the Tides went 0 for 6 in the night’s final two innings against 31-year-old infielder Wilmer Difo, who gained his first pro pitching victory.
According to baseball-reference.com, Difo, 31, has played in 492 MLB games — mostly with the Washington Nationals from 2015-20 — and had only pitched in two of them. He gave up eight runs in two innings with Pittsburgh in 2021. No record was provided of him ever pitching in the minors, though he turned pro in 2010.
The Tides’ Robbie Glendinning hit two home runs, and Norfolk extended the game in the seventh inning on a tying steal of home by Heston Kjerstad on a play in which Ortiz was thrown out at second base.
With runners placed at second base to start extra innings, Glendinning brought one home in the top of the eighth, but Norfolk left the bases loaded. The RailRiders extended the game on Westbrook’s two-out RBI double.
Norfolk, known for prolific offense, couldn’t bring home its gifted runners in the next three innings, even against Difo in the last two of them. That kept the door open for the RailRiders to prevail when Bastidas grounded a pitch by Eduard Bazardo (3-1) up the middle to bring home Andres Chaparro.
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE STANDINGS
(through most of Sunday’s games)
Team, W-L, Pct., GB
East Division
Norfolk (Orioles), 43-19, .694, –
Durham (Rays), 36-27, .571, 7.5
Lehigh Valley (Phillies), 32-29, .525, 10.5
Worcester (Red Sox), 31-32, .492, 12.5
Scranton/W-B (Yankees), 29-33, .468, 14.0
Buffalo (Blue Jays), 29-34, .460, 14.5
Charlotte (White Sox), 29-34, .460, 14.5
Rochester (Nationals), 28-33, .459, 14.5
Jacksonville (Marlins), 27-35, .435, 16.0
Syracuse (Mets), 24-38, .387, 19.0
West Division
St. Paul (Twins), 36-26, .581, –
*Louisville (Reds), 35-26, .574, –
Iowa (Cubs), 34-27, .557, 1.5
Memphis (Cardinals), 34-29, .540, 2.5
Nashville (Brewers), 31-31, .500, 5.0
*Columbus (Guardians), 30-31, .492, 5.5
*Omaha (Royals), 28-32, .467, 7.0
Gwinnett (Stripers), 29-34, .460, 7.5
*Indianapolis (Pirates), 28-33, .459, 7.5
Toledo (Tigers), 26-36, .419, 10.0
*Does not include Sunday’s result.
