THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9606300237
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 68 lines
The Norfolk Tides haven't experienced many forgettable games this season, but there is little reason to remember any part of Saturday night's 7-0 loss to the Ottawa Lynx.
The Tides were handcuffed by Ben Rivera for six innings and had no solution for Lynx reliever Dave Leiper either as they failed to get a runner to second base.
Rivera gave up just two hits, a two-out single to Tides pitcher Rick Reed in the third and a one-out infield single to Terrell Lowery in the fifth before being lifted after walking Shawn Gilbert to start the seventh.
The 6-foot-6 righthander looked nothing like his incoming record: 0-7 with a 7.36 earned run average. Instead, he looked like the Ben Rivera who had made it to the major leagues earlier in his career with the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies before arm troubles sidelined him for the entire 1995 campaign.
Rivera said the secret to his performance was a pitch he pulled out of storage: the slider.
``I used to throw a slider when I was with the Braves,'' Rivera said. ``But when the Phillies traded for me, they took away my slider and my split-finger fastball. The slider's still a good pitch for me.''
Tides leadoff hitter Gary Thurman vouched for that.
``I've been seeing the ball real well lately,'' said Thurman, who had a nine-game hitting streak broken, ``and I can tell you he had a good slider tonight. He struck me out with it. It was tough to lay off it and he used it in some good spots.''
Reed, who fell to 4-7, was once again the victim of bad timing in the starting rotation. He's been the starting pitcher for the Tides all three times Norfolk has been shut out this season.
Ottawa got on the board in the second on Ryan McGuire's eighth home run of the season, a two-run shot.
The Lynx added another run in the fifth. Kevin Castleberry and Raul Chavez both singled to start the inning and moved up on Rivera's sacrifice bunt.
After Steve Bieser walked, Tony Barron grounded to short. But Bieser broke up the double play, allowing a run to score while knocking Tides second baseman Jason Hardtke out of the game after rolling over his left knee.
Tides manager Bobby Valentine said Hardtke apparently had a sprained knee, but the severity wouldn't be known until today.
In the Ottawa sixth, McGuire reached on an infield single and scored on a double to the gap in left by Castleberry.
The Lynx pushed the lead to 5-0 in the eighth when Rob Lukachyk led off with a double to center and scored on a Castleberry single up the middle off reliever Bob MacDonald.
Ottawa pushed across two more runs in the ninth off reliever Mark Lee, but by then many in the season-high crowd of 11,673 were headed home.
``Rivera caught us on one of those nights,'' Valentine said. ``But he was also throwing some good pitches.''
TIDAL WAVES: The Tides will give away 5,000 posters of third baseman Matt Franco at today's game, which begins at 12:15 p.m. . . . Today's game will have a 4:30 curfew; the Lynx must catch an early flight home Sunday for a day game Monday, which is Dominion Day, a national holiday in Canada . . . Tides backup catcher Chris Howard has flown to Houston where his wife was to have labor induced this weekend . . . Monday's Tides game with the Richmond Braves will be followed by a fireworks display. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Tides second baseman Jason Hardtke is taken out by Ottawa's Steve
Bieser on Saturday night. He had to leave the game with an injured
ankle. by CNB