The Norfolk Tides picked up their offense Saturday night but still lost their fifth game in a row in their series at Gwinnett, falling 8-3 to the Stripers before 2,844 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Jonathan Ornelas blasted two home runs for the Stripers, including a tying three-run shot in the fourth inning.
Ornelas has four homers among his six hits in the series. Norfolk’s team had combined for just seven hits in the three previous games.
After Ornelas’ first homer of the night, Matthew Batten followed with a go-ahead home run off starter Cameron Weston (3-8), who gave up seven hits and three walks while striking out six in 3 2/3 innings. All three Norfolk pitchers who followed him to the mound gave up at least an earned run, and the four Tides pitchers combined to issue eight walks.
The Tides (25-29 in the International League’s second half, 55-72) will try to avoid a six-game sweep when they face Gwinnett (29-26, 58-72) at 1:05 p.m. Sunday. Grafton High graduate Trey Gibson (1-2, 7.71 earned-run average) is scheduled to pitch for the Tides against veteran Carlos Carrasco (6-2, 3.36).
Eight of nine Norfolk batters in the starting lineup had a hit, and the Tides finished with 10. Jorge Mateo went 3 for 5 with a double in his 11th game with Norfolk during his second rehabilitation stint from the Baltimore Orioles.
The Tides went ahead 3-0 in the second inning on Livan Soto’s RBI single and Jakson Reetz’s two-run double.
Stripers starter Dane Dunning (2-1) pitched five innings for the victory, giving up eight hits. Four relievers pitched a shutout inning apiece.
