Tides Win Streak now at Three
Knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa helped the Norfolk Tides extend their win streak to three games Monday night by shutting down the Pawtucket Red Sox by a score of 3-1. Gamboa allowed just one hit and struck out seven, one shy of a career high, in five innings pitched.
Not only did the Tides earn their third straight victory, all against the same team and all by the same score, Eddie Gamboa (4-4) picked up his third straight win as well. In his last four starts, Gamboa has a record of 3-0 with an ERA of just 1.88. In those starts, Gamboa has struck out 22 batters while allowing 14 hits. Surprisingly, the only start in his last four that Gamboa did not allow a run he did not earn a decision.
Gamboa threw 104 pitches Monday night, 59 of them for strikes, the reason why he only pitched five innings. Though Gamboa pitched great, he walked three batters with two coming in the fifth inning.
In Monday night’s game however, the Tides’ offense helped Gamboa out. Three different Tides’ players, Quintin Berry, Xavier Paul, and Buck Britton, each had one RBI on the night.
Quintin Berry started things out in the third inning by singling home Steve Lombardozzi with no outs in the inning. Xavier Paul followed that up with a line drive single to right field with two outs, scoring Julio Borbon. Buck Britton picked up an insurance run in the sixth inning when he singled to right field which allowed Ivan De Jesus to score from third.
The big story of the game, and the three-game win streak, was the Tides’ pitching. Four pitchers combined for nine innings of three hit ball. The only run of the game came in the first inning. Starter Eddie Gamboa allowed one unearned run but answered by shutting down 12 consecutive batters.
Kelvin De La Cruz pitched two innings, allowed one hit and struck out one. Tim Alderson and Evan Meek both pitched one inning with Meek picking up his second save for Norfolk on the year.
The Tides look to earn their fourth straight victory Tuesday night with opening game in a four-game series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Josh Stinson (0-3 5.23) will be on the hill for the Tides looking to bounce back from his last start in which he gave up four runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings. Zach Nuding (2-3 6.23) will start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Nuding is coming off a start where he allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits in 5.0 innings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.
