THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605190198
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE BATISTA, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PAWTUCKET, R.I. LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Things were going just fine for the Tides on Saturday night.
The Pawtucket Red Sox put winless Rafael Orellano on the mound, and he gave up three runs in the top of the first inning.
But Norfolk squandered that lead and later blew a 5-3 advantage. The final score, after a ninth-inning rally fell short, was 12-9 Pawtucket, in front of a paid crowd of 5,418 at McCoy Stadium.
Orellano entered the game with an 0-5 record and a 16.47 ERA. In 2 2/3 innings of work, he allowed five earned runs. He has allowed at least that many in each of his eight starts this season.
But Saturday, his futility was matched. The Tides' Rick Reed surrendered seven earned runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Reed shouldered the loss, falling to 1-5. But Pawtucket broke the game open in the seventh inning when Joe Ausanio, Norfolk's third pitcher of the night, was victimized by a five-run seventh inning. His troubles were worsened by a monstrous Rudy Pemberton grand slam that increased Pawtucket's lead to 12-6.
``I kept my pitchers in there too long,'' said Norfolk manager Bobby Valentine. ``We lost two leads. Reed doesn't usually get many runs to work with. Tonight he got the runs but he just couldn't hold them.''
Norfolk had the top of its order up in the ninth and made the most of it. Gary Thurman led off the frame with a double and went to third on a groundout by Jason Hardtke. He scored on a single by Matt Franco, who doubled in the Tides' first run of the game and hit a two-run homer in the third to give the Tides their 5-3 edge. Franco was 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs.
The Tides closed the gap to 12-9 when Alex Ochoa ripped his second homer of the game, a two-run shot.
``Our guys never gave up,'' Valentine said. ``They kept swinging the bats. They gave us a chance to win.''
Ochoa's first homer extended Norfolk's lead to 3-0 in the first. As in the ninth inning, Franco scored ahead of him.
After a calm second inning for Orellano, Pawtucket knotted the game in the bottom half. A Scott Hatteberg single plated Alan Zinter, who reached on a single.
Hatteberg was erased on a fielder's choice by Pemberton. Jose Malave, who singled, went to third on the play. Tony Rodriguez then tied the game by doubling over the head of Thurman in centerfield.
The Tides promptly regained the lead with a pair in the top of the third. Hardtke led off with a single. Franco followed by knocking a 1-0 Orellano offering over the rightfield fence .
But Orellano was absolved when his teammates torched Reed for four runs in the bottom half of the inning. T.R. Lewis led the brigade with a leadoff homer on an 0-1 pitch. by CNB