THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010567
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CLYDE HUGHES, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: MAUMEE, OHIO LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The Norfolk Tides fell victim to the home run ball and solid pitching Wednesday night in a 5-2 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens at Skeldon Stadium.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Tides. Norfolk starter Paul Byrd (2-5) gave up a one-out, three-run home run to Terry McGriff to break a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning.
Norfolk manager Toby Harrah said he was more concerned about Byrd's walk to Tony Clark two batters before.
``It's not the home runs that hurt you, but the walks before,'' Harrah said. ``He was walking the wrong guy. He was walking the .200 batter to get to the other guy.''
Byrd, who gave up 10 hits in a 3-2 loss to Toledo on May 20, looked strong early, blanking the Mud Hens over the first five innings.
``Even then I didn't have good location,'' Byrd said. ``I didn't have any location on my fastball. I was hoping by the fourth or fifth inning it would come, but it never did.''
McGriff's home run gave Toledo the lead for the first time in the series.
Toledo added another run in the eighth on Tony Clark's fifth home run of the year, off Phil Stidham.
Mud Hens starter Pat Ahearne pitched 8 2/3 innings, giving up two runs, one earned, in the win. Mike Christopher pitched to two batters in the ninth for his 12th save of the season.
``(Ahearne's) the perfect pitcher for this ballpark,'' Harrah said. ``He got a lot of ground balls in this slow grass. He pitched smart and didn't hurt himself tonight.''
Unlike the first two games of the series, Norfolk didn't take advantage of early chances to score. The Tides had runners in scoring position in five of the first six innings but produced one run.
That came in the third as Norfolk drew first blood for the third time in the series. The Tides had scored a total of 20 runs in the first two games of the series.
Carl Everett scored on a Aaron Ledesma's two-out single in the third inning.
John Orton's single scored Tracy Sanders in the ninth for Norfolk's only other score.
``We got (nine) hits off a good pitcher,'' Harrah said. ``I'm really happy with the way we battled back in the ninth.''
Notes: Norfolk tied a record for its best start over 52 games with a 34-18 record. The Tides had a chance to break the record Wednesday night. . . . Butch Huskey's single gave him at least one hit in four of his last five games. Huskey batted .583 (7-for-12) in the Toledo series and is .476 (10-21) in his last five games. . . . Byrd's luck in Ohio ran out. Both of his previous wins had come on the road at Toledo and Columbus. ILLUSTRATION: BOX SCORE
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[For a copy of the charts, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB