Tides end slide at 5, salvage 1 victory at Gwinnett

Gwinnett pitchers’ ninth-inning wildness Sunday ensured that the Norfolk Tides wouldn’t leave Georgia winless.

Scoring twice without a hit in the final inning, the Tides defeated Gwinnett 6-4 before 1,766 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville after the Stripers won the series’ previous five games. Norfolk (26-29 in the International League’s second half, 56-72 overall) will be back home at Harbor Park at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday to begin a six-game series against the Nashville Sounds.

Grafton High graduate Trey Gibson, who was named the International League Pitcher of the Week in his first week with the Tides, continued to struggle since. He gave up four earned runs, seven hits and two walks with 72 pitches in three innings, striking out two and leaving his Norfolk earned-run average at 8.59.

But the Norfolk bullpen was dominant. Anthony Nunez, Elvin Rodríguez, Chayce McDermott and winner Yaramil Hiraldo combined to shut out the Stripers for six innings, giving up just three hits and one walk.

After David McCabe’s RBI single put Gwinnett ahead 1-0 in the first inning, the Tides gained a 2-1 lead when Livan Soto doubled home TT Bowens and Jud Fabian in the second.

The Stripers (29-27, 58-73) moved back ahead in the third. Cade Bunnell tied the score with an RBI single, Conner Capel came home on a wild pitch and Luke Waddell hit an RBI single.

Silas Ardoin lined a pair of RBI doubles, bringing in Bowens in the fourth and Soto in the sixth, to draw Norfolk even at 4 against veteran starter Carlos Carrasco.

In the ninth, Stripers reliever Davis Daniel (5-11) walked Jakson Reetz with one out, then plunked pinch hitter Terrin Vavra with a pitch. Jorge Mateo, in his 12th game of a rehabilitation stint from the Baltimore Orioles, then walked, ending Daniel’s stay on the mound.

Reliever Daysbel Hernández, who has spent most of the year with Atlanta, caught Jordyn Adams looking at a third strike and also struck out Maverick Handley swinging, but the third strike was a wild pitch that allowed Reetz to score and Handley to reach first. Bowens then coaxed a bases-loaded walk for a 6-4 lead.

https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/08/31/tides-end-slide-at-5-salvage-1-victory-at-gwinnett/