Despite a big rehabilitation game by Adley Rutschman and a Fan Appreciation Night sellout crowd of 11,940, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp defeated the Norfolk Tides 9-6 Saturday at Harbor Park.
Rutschman drew three walks, hit a sacrifice fly and belted a home run in his only official at-bat as he prepares to return to the Baltimore Orioles. That blast to right-center gave the Tides a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning, but the Shrimp replied with Nathan Martorella’s go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth off Houston Roth (5-2), the fifth of six Norfolk pitchers.
In the ninth, Jacksonville expanded the margin on Joe Mack’s two-run double and Martorella’s bases-loaded walk.
Martorella finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs, and teammate Jacob Berry was 3 for 3 with three runs and two walks.
Jordyn Adams belted a solo home run in the ninth for the Tides before postgame fireworks, giving him two hits and two RBIs for the night. Livan Soto had two hits and scored, and Jud Fabian walked twice and scored twice.
Reliever Josh White gained the victory, striking out three of the four batters he faced and surviving a wild pitch that allowed Soto to reach base.
The Tides (32-41 in the season’s second half, 62-84 overall) will finish their season with a 1:05 p.m. home game Sunday against the Jumbo Shrimp (42-32, 89-60), who clinched an International League championship series berth by winning the first half. They’ll be at home in Florida against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in a best-of-three series starting Tuesday.

