Louisville Bats at Norfolk Tides
April 10th, 2004
| Louisville |
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0 |
1 |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
9 |
1 |
| Norfolk |
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0 |
0 |
2 |
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0 |
2 |
1 |
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0 |
0 |
X |
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5 |
10 |
0 |
E-Christensen, LOB LOU-7, NOR-6, 2B-Hummel, Cruz, Sardinha, Delgado, Keisler, HR-Pachot (Valentine/3rd/solo), SACB-Keisler
BK-Keisler
Louisville Courier Journal
by Rich Radford
The forecast for the next three days in this port city by the Chesapeake Bay is thunderstorms, thunderstorms and more thunderstorms.
It will take some good fortune if Louisville's four game series against the Norfolk Tides is played in it's entirety.
Just getting in last night's game was a bit of an adventure, and it didn't work well for the Bats.
A 27 minutes rain delay wasn't enough for Bats manager Rick Burleson to shut down starting pitcher Joe Valentine, at least not this time.
"Usually when a delay goes over 30 minutes, that's it, especially for a prospect." Burleson said. "But he was stretched out pretty good and wasn't near his pitch count, so we let him go back out."
The result was a two run fifth inning by the Tides that provided the cushion Norfolk would need to post a 5-2 victory at Harbor Park.
John Pachott, who had homered in the Tides' two run third inning, got things started for Norfolk in the fifth with a soft single to center.
Tides starting pitcher Randy Keisler followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Jeff Duncan put runners at the corners with another single to center. Wilson Delgado then stroked a two run double into the right field corner for a 4-1 lead.
The Bats were living right when they scraped across a run in the second inning.
Stephen Smitherman blooped a leadoff single over the head of the first baseman Craig Brazell, who got a bad jump on the ball. Smitherman took second on a balk with two outs. Then Dane Sardinha hit a liner that just eluded second baseman Danny Garcia, scoring Smitherman from second.
But Norfolk tied it in the third on Pachot's leadoff homer, then took a 2-1 lead when Keisler doubled to the right field fence and scored Duncan's single over first base.
The rain came with two out in the top of the fifth and Felipe Lopez at the plate with a runner at third. But Keisler was able to coax Lopez into grounding back to the mound to end the inning.
Norfolk got another run in the sixth when relief pitcher Jason Roach delieverd and infield single with two out and runners at the corners. The pitcher's spot in the Tides batting order was 2 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt.
Louisville scored a run in the ninth, then loaded the bases against a tiring Roach, which brough the winning run to the plate. But Pedro Feliciano got Jim Chamblee to ground to shortstop to end it.