THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996 TAG: 9605280158
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 60 lines
The ending matched the day in general for the Norfolk Tides Monday afternoon at The Diamond: It was an ugly mess.
With two out and runners at first and third, Tides pitcher Rick Trlicek's wild pitch to Carl Schutz allowed Ed Giovanola to score as the Richmond Braves won 2-1 in 10 innings.
Schutz, who relieved starter Brad Woodall in the ninth, had to bat for himself in the 10th when the Braves ran out of position players and were without a logical pinch-hitter.
The righthanded Trlicek's first pitch was at the feet of the lefthanded Schutz and ran to the backstop, ending almost three hours of mudball in a game delayed 29 minutes at the start by rain.
``Better to play football in this stuff,'' said Trlicek. ``I don't think I've ever played a whole game in rain.''
With one out in the 10th, Trlicek walked Giovanola, who was almost doubled off at first when Bobby Moore lined out to second. Pedro Swann then singled sharply to center, with Giovanola gambling and taking third.
``I knew we had the pitcher on deck,'' Giovanola said. ``I was hoping, heck, with a wet ball he'd throw it away or something. The worst would be having the pitcher lead off the next inning.''
The Braves ran out of pinch-hitters when catcher Darron Cox was ejected for arguing with umpire Jerry Meals prior to the 10th. Cox had been called out on strikes in the ninth on a ball he said hit him in the hand on a third-strike bunt attempt. His departure forced backup catcher Joe Ayrault into the game and Schutz to the plate.
``I don't think any out is easy,'' Trlicek said. ``I've seen pitchers who can swing the bat. My job was to make him swing and I didn't.''
Lost in the murky ending were quality starts by Norfolk's Mike Gardiner and Woodall. Gardiner went seven innings, scattering six hits, striking out six and lowering his International League-best earned run average to 1.25. Woodall went eight, also surrendering six hits and striking out seven.
The Braves scored a run in the second as the weather conditions played havoc on what, for the last week, had been a water-tight Tides defense.
First, third baseman Matt Franco failed to cleanly field Omar Garcia's chopper to the left of the mound. After Gardiner struck out Juan Williams, he coaxed Robert Smith into a sinking liner to short, but the ball scooted under Luis Rivera's glove.
``It was a hit-and-run and I was trying to catch the ball in the air and double him up at first,'' Rivera said. ``I just pulled up too soon.''
One out later, Lou Benbow singled up the middle to score Garcia from third.
The Tides' run in the sixth was also weather-aided. Rivera's tailing bloop down the rightfield line got past a diving Pedro Swann, resulting in a triple. Kevin Flora's chopper to short scored Rivera.
The Tides, who had won six straight coming in, were down to one pinch-hitter - catcher Alberto Castillo - and had used pitcher Robert Person as a pinch-runner for first baseman Roberto Petagine. Andy Tomberlin was scratched from the starting lineup, but played in the late innings after Flora aggravated an injured left thumb on a swing in the ninth. Alex Ochoa (strained hamstring) finished the at-bat, but didn't play the field.
The Tides were also victimized by double plays in the sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th innings.
``An ugly ending to an ugly day,'' Tides manager Bobby Valentine said. by CNB