The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp swept the Norfolk Tides 4-3, 5-1 Friday night in a doubleheader before 7,610 at Harbor Park.
In Game 1, Tristan Gray’s three-run double in the first inning gave Jacksonville the lead, and the Jumbo Shrimp held on. In Game 2, the Tides had just two hits.
Jacksonville (49-50, 14-10 in the International League’s second half) and the Tides (47-52, 11-13) are scheduled to play the fifth of a six-game series at 6:35 Saturday night.
In the opener, two walks and an infield single got starter Brandon Young (2-2) in trouble before Gray laced a pitch to right field, scoring Victor Mesa Jr., Griffin Conine and Will Banfield.
The Tides made it 3-1 as Jackson Holliday led off the bottom of the first with a double, went to third on Coby Mayo’s fly to right and scored on Kyle Stowers’ groundout to first.
Norfolk pulled to 3-2 in the third as Mayo doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and came home as Stowers grounded to shortstop.
The Shrimp made it 4-2 in the fifth when Javier Sanoja doubled and scored on Troy Johnston’s single.
The Tides’ Coby Mayo led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to center, but Norfolk stranded two runners in the sixth and one in the seventh.
Jacksonville reliever Luarbert Arias (4-3) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory, and Elvis Alvarado got the final four outs for the save.
In Game 2, Kent Emanuel pitched 4 1/3 innings and winner Angel Macuare (2-0) worked the final 2 2/3 innings of their combined two-hitter. The pair joined forces to strike out 11 and walk two, with Billy Cook belting a two-out home run in the sixth to avert a shutout.
Jacksonville’s José Devers hit a two-run single to center off Tides starter Carlos Tavera (2-4) in the second inning, and Jhonny Pereda increased the margin to 3-0 with a leadoff homer in the fourth.
Ahead 3-1, the Shrimp added two insurance runs in the seventh off reliever Corbin Martin when Norfolk third baseman Niko Goodrum committed a throwing error after fielding a Bennett Hostetler grounder.
The series has been plagued by rain. Tuesday’s game was reset to part of a Wednesday doubleheader, in which the Tides won Game 1 6-5 and the Jumbo Shrimp took Game 2 1-0. Wednesday’s contest was rained out, necessitating Thursday’s doubleheader.
