THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230391
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 67 lines
After a day full of lows, the Norfolk Tides finished on a high Monday in a doubleheader with the Toledo Mud Hens.
The Tides, after dropping the opening game 5-3, ripped into Toledo starter Greg Keagle and a host of relief pitchers for a 17-4 victory at Harbor Park.
The Tides, in scoring a season-high run total, sent 12 batters to the plate in a six-run third inning that gave them a 12-2 lead.
``We were real sluggish (in the first game),'' Tides manager Bobby Valentine said. ``We were coming off a long road trip (six games) and had a delayed flight in the morning. But that's no excuse. You've still got to play. At least we showed some fire at the end (of the first game) and that was a good sign.''
It became the spark that torched the Mud Hens for so many runs that Norfolk's early inning-by-inning scoring in the second game - 246 - resembled a local telephone exchange.
Norfolk jumped to a 6-0 lead after two innings of the second game, with Alberto Castillo's two-run home run the most significant hit.
The early fireworks were lowlighted by Tides first baseman Roberto Petagine being hit by a pitch for the second time Monday, forcing him to leave the game after Keagle conked him on the right wrist. And the first inning was punctuated by a supposed triple play that became a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Benny Agbayani.
With runners on second and third, Agbayani drilled a shot into the right gap. When Toledo's Tony Mitchell miraculously gloved it, Matt Franco, who was running on the play, was doubled up at second. Shawn Gilbert was also called out at third before the umpires realized they'd confused Franco and Gilbert, who had gone back to tag up, near third. Gilbert's run was allowed after some debate.
Norfolk doubled its six runs in the third, with Jay Payton starting the barrage with a triple to the gap in right. After a run-scoring single by Kevin Roberson that chased Keagle and a walk to Luis Rivera by Walker, Castillo sacrificed the runners over.
Gary Thurman, Gilbert and Franco all singled in runs, Agbayani singled to load the bases and Terrell Lowery walked to drive in a run. Payton followed with a run-scoring single to finish the barrage.
The anticipated split of the doubleheader was a complete turn of fortune for the Tides.
The team had risen at 5 a.m. for a flight out of Columbus, then sat through a one-hour delay on a runway before mechanical problems forced them to change planes.
First-game Toledo starting pitcher Trever Miller then limited the Tides to one hit in the night's first five innings, a Rivera single to center, before running into problems in the sixth.
A pair of doubles by Rivera and Gilbert and a single by Payton in the sixth plated two runs. But Miller was working with a 5-0 lead by then, three of them provided by Bubba Trammell's home run in the third.
Miller hit Petagine in the back to start the seventh and the Tides plated a run on another Rivera double, then loaded the bases against reliever Mike Christopher before Gilbert struck out to end it. ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Virginian-Pilot photos
The Tides' Shawn Gilbert slides safely into home as Toledo's Jeff
Tackett is late with the tag during Monday's first game at Harbor
Park.
Tides rightfielder Terrell Lowery makes a diving catch in the
fourth. The Tides lost the first game against Toledo 5-3. by CNB