THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120136
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 65 lines
Norfolk Tides manager Bobby Valentine figured Domingo Martinez was due to hit a cold streak sometime. So he pitched around Joe Hall in the 10th inning to get to the Rochester Red Wings' new cleanup hitter.
But since Domingo means ``Sunday'' in Spanish, Valentine obviously picked the wrong day for such a move.
After relief pitcher Rick Trlicek intentionally walked Hall with a runner on second and two out, Martinez drilled a 2-2 pitch through the middle, driving in Bien Figueroa with what turned into the winning run in Rochester's 2-1 victory over the Tides Sunday night at Harbor Park.
The loss kept the Tides (68-53) four games behind Columbus in the International League West Division.
Valentine said afterward that he took into account Martinez's .538 average since joining the Red Wings last week.
``That means he's ready to make outs,'' Valentine said. ``Nobody hits
Martinez, however, is now hitting .556 since the Red Wings signed him as a free agent out of the Mexican League, where he hit .320 for the Reynosa Broncos.
``Domingo has been fantastic for us,'' Rochester manager Marv Foley said. ``We haven't had a legitimate No. 4 hitter on the team all year. He's just picked up the whole club. We've been on fire since he joined us.''
Given the time of year, it doesn't surprise Trlicek.
``I played with Domingo for three years in (the Toronto Blue Jays organization),'' Trlicek said. ``He always did hit in the second half of the season.''
Figueroa had led off the 10th with a slicing single to right and moved up on Brent Bowers' sacrifice bunt. Trlicek struck out Scott McClain before issuing the intentional pass to Hall.
Sunday's game was decidedly different from the previous two in this series, the Tides winning the first 9-8 and Rochester the second 11-7.
But it appeared in the first inning that another scoring feast was in the making.
The Red Wings scratched across a run on singles by Bowers, McClain and Martinez.
The Tides evened matters in the bottom of the first on a single by Shawn Gilbert and a run-scoring double by Matt Franco, his 32nd of the season.
After that, both starting pitchers settled down. That was expected from the Tides' Mike Fyhrie, who leads the IL in victories with 12.
It was a bit of a surprise from Nerio Rodriguez, who was making his first Triple-A start after pitching for Class A Fredrick, where he was 8-7 with a 2.26 earned run average. Rodriguez was converted from catcher midway through last season.
``We've been besieged by injuries and callups, just like everybody else,'' Foley said. ``We were having trouble finding five starters to go out there.''
Fyhrie and Rodriguez both went eight innings before giving way to relief help. Jimmy Myers pitched the final two innings for the Red Wings to pick up the victory.
TIDAL WAVES: Outfielder Kevin Flora returned from a rehabilitation stay in St. Lucie, Fla., Sunday and pinch ran in the ninth. That may be the only type action he sees for the rest of the season. His left wrist, which was surgically repaired over two months ago, is again bothering him and will be examined Tuesday by New York Mets team doctors. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Jay Payton of the Tides makes the safe call as Rochester shortstop
Clay Bellinger takes a seat. The ump agreed with Payton. by CNB