THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 1996 TAG: 9606040464
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 64 lines
The Norfolk Tides celebrate every victory at home by playing Frank Sinatra's version of ``New York, New York'' over the public address system.
Maybe they should start playing another Sinatra tune - ``Luck be a Lady Tonight'' - before each Juan Acevedo start.
He could use it.
Acevedo cruised through the first six innings and took a 2-1 lead into the seventh before having this unravel before his eyes as the Tides fell to the Charlotte Knights 8-2 at Harbor Park.
``I just blew up,'' said Acevedo. ``The bottom line is I have to throw strikes and I didn't throw strikes. I got a little wild. Give them credit for being patient.''
Nobody saw this type of seventh inning coming after Acevedo retired the side in the sixth on a pop-up and two strikeouts.
But when Erik Johnson reached on a fielding error by shortstop Shawn Gilbert, matters began to unravel. Chris Clapinski followed with a slap single to left and Joe Siddall singled down the first-base line to plate the first run of the inning.
Acevedo walked the next two batters, mixing in a wild pitch that scored Clapinski, as both Jose Olmeda and Marquis Riley squared to bunt during their at-bats.
Lou Lucca then welcomed reliever Brian Bark by clubbing his first pitch over the wall in left for a grand slam.
``That's how these things usually happen,'' said Acevedo. ``I tell you what, this is a hard loss to swallow. Maybe luck's not on my side. You need luck to win in this game.''
Tides manager Bobby Valentine said the biggest down side to this one was that Acevedo had displayed such control through the early innings.
``They get one guy on with an error and another on a hit-and-run and Juan's in a jam with no outs,'' Valentine said.
``Then he fell behind 2-0 on a bunting situation. He got upset and started overthrowing.
``He pitched a good game. This was not a bad outing. It's too bad he didn't get better results.''
Charlotte manager Sal Rende said ``Acevedo was trying so hard to throw strikes in those bunting situations and just couldn't do it. The walks were his undoing. We feel fortunate to get that many runs in this park, especially against a quality staff that doesn't give up that many.''
The Tides had taken a 1-0 lead in the third when Gilbert and Jason Hardtke singled to start the inning and Gilbert moved to third on a fielder's choice groundout by Matt Franco. Kevin Roberson, starting for the first time since being outrighted to the Tides by the New York Mets, lifted a fly ball to right that scored Gilbert.
Charlotte evened the score in the fourth on a Billy McMillon double to the wall in center and a Chris Clapinski run-scoring single.
But Terrell Lowery gave the Tides a 2-1 lead with a solo home run, his first at the Triple-A level, in the sixth.
The Knights added a run in the eighth when Johnson reached on a fielding error by Hardtke and later scored on a double by Olmeda.
The three-game series continues tonight with Norfolk's Rick Reed (2-5, 4.23) facing Charlotte's Chris Seelbach (3-3, 4.61). ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Terrell Lowery gets ready to deposit his first home run of the
season to give the Norfolk Tides a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. But
the celebrating was short-lived, as the Tides lost 8-2. by CNB