THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606170136
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 68 lines
The Norfolk Tides watched highlights of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials Sunday morning then decided to do a little sprinting of their own.
The Tides stole a season-high six bases Sunday afternoon, causing havoc for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre catcher Rick Wrona on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Red Barons at Harbor Park.
``Just part of the game,'' said Alex Ochoa, who swiped two bases, the most important in the sixth inning with the game tied 1-1. ``We're starting to run well as a team and that will help us when we're not doing other things as well.''
Ochoa was on the front end of a double steal in the sixth that led to a run when Wrona threw wildly into leftfield trying to get Ochoa at third. Jason Hardtke, who was on the back end of the steal, took third on the error and scored on Luis Rivera's double to the right gap off Scott Bakkum, who had relieved starter Rafael Quirico one batter earlier.
With rain dotting the horizon and the umpiring crew asking for the field lights to be turned on, the runs seemed well-timed. But the rain never came.
That left it up to the Tides pitching staff to make the 3-1 lead stand and the combination of starter Joe Crawford and relievers Rick Trlicek, Mark Lee and Derek Wallace did just that.
Crawford, just up from Double-A Binghamton where he went 5-1 after being converted into a starter, cruised through seven innings. He gave up five hits and a fourth-inning run when Scranton's Scott Rolen led off with a double and scored on a two-out single up the middle by Jon Zuber.
Derek Wallace recorded the last two outs for his 11th save.
The Tides were actually out-hit, tallying five to Scranton's eight.
Three of those hits, however, were doubles.
Hardtke and Rivera both doubled in the second for the Tides' first run.
Rivera has collected four extra-base hits in the last two games and has lifted his batting average nearly 30 points to .239 in the last two weeks.
``Luis is a better hitter than what he was doing earlier,'' Tides manager Bobby Valentine said. ``That line drive he hit to right (in the sixth) was big.''
``I went through a slump where I wasn't picking the ball up and couldn't tell whether it was a fastball or a slider,'' said Rivera, a 32-year-old veteran of 732 major league games. ``You do that and you start thinking about going home. You think maybe this is it. Maybe it's over. But I never gave up and now I'm picking up the ball real good.''
Norfolk, which is 10 games above .500 and leads the International League West Division by 3 1/2 games, added a run in the seventh.
Pinch-hitter Brian Daubach walked, then reached third when Wrona's throw to first base on Gary Thurman's sacrifice bunt got away from second baseman Essex Burton, who was covering. Daubach scored on Matt Franco's sacrifice fly to deep center.
``We made things happen and got some clutch hitting,'' Valentine said. ``When you get production out of the bottom of the lineup it's great.''
TIDAL WAVES: The Tides and New York Mets switched players Sunday evening when outfielder Andy Tomberlin was called up and first baseman Roberto Petagine was returned to the Tides. Tomberlin, 29, a major league veteran who has been with Pittsburgh, Boston and Oakland, was hitting .325 with the Tides. Petagine was hitting .343 for the Tides before being called up two weeks ago. by the Mets, in time for Tuesday's game. ... Hot dogs, Pepsis and popcorn are each a quarter tonight as the Tides roll back prices at the Harbor Park concessions. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
A young fan gets a close look as Tides catcher Alberto Castillo
misses a difficult foul ball. by CNB