Saturday night was great for Connor Norby, but lousy for his Norfolk teammates as the Durham Bulls pulled away for a 14-5 victory over the Tides in North Carolina.
Austin Shenton drove in six runs for the Bulls, thanks to a first-inning grand slam and a two-run homer in the seventh.
The Tides (40-46, 4-7 in the International League season’s second half) dropped four of six games to the Bulls (42-45, 6-6) in a two-city, six-game series. Norfolk went 1-2 at both Harbor Park and Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Norby, though, continued his quest to gain more than a brief stint with the parent Baltimore Orioles, providing two home runs and all five of Norfolk’s RBIs.
After a 65-minute pregame weather delay, Norby clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning and gave the Tides their last lead, 5-4, with a three-run blast in the fourth. Jackson Holliday, who was 1 for 1 with three walks, was on base for both home runs.
Tides starter Chayce McDermott endured uncommon woes, giving up four earned runs, three walks and two hits while getting just one out. Trey McGough and Luis Gonzalez shut down the Bulls until Curtis Mead greeted reliever Vinny Nittoli (0-1) with a two-run homer in the sixth to put Durham ahead 6-5.
The seventh turned disastrous for reliever Kade Strowd, who surrendered six runs, a walk and five hits, including Shenton’s two-run homer and Kameron Misner’s grand slam. Misner scored three times.
Having used six members of his pitching staff, Norfolk manager Buck Britton figuratively waved a white flag in the eighth, sending infielder Nick Maton to the mound. He gave up a pair of runs to close the scoring.
The Tides can regroup before heading to Tennessee to begin a six-game series against the Memphis Redbirds on Tuesday night.
