Shortstop Jackson Holliday’s atoning sacrifice fly in the ninth inning gave the Norfolk Tides a walk-off 5-4 victory Saturday night against Jacksonville before 9,116 at Harbor Park.
After the Jumbo Shrimp scored twice on a Holliday error in the top of the ninth, Nick Maton led off the bottom half with a double. Maverick Handley bunted him to third, and Holliday drove him home with a fly ball to right field.
The Tides (48-52, 12-13 in the International League’s second half) will try to gain a split of six games against the Jumbo Shrimp (49-51, 14-11) when they play their series finale at 4:05 p.m. Sunday.
Consecutive RBI doubles by Kyle Stowers and Billy Cook in the third inning put Norfolk ahead 2-1. Deyvison De Los Santos’ home run in the fourth and Victor Mesa Jr.’s RBI single in the fifth pulled Jacksonville even at 2.
Tides starter Bruce Zimmermann pitched five innings, his longest outing since returning from the injured list July 3. He struck out two, walked none and gave up six hits and two runs.
In the sixth, Cook doubled and scored on successive flyouts, the second by Niko Goodrum. Cook scored again in the eighth, this time on a Goodrum single, for a 4-2 Tides lead. Cook has 21 multiple-hit games, including three in a row.
In the Shrimp’s ninth, reliever Kade Strowd got the first two batters to ground out, but walked José Devers and pinch hitter Griffin Conine. Javier Sanoja then hit a ground ball to Holliday, one of baseball’s top prospects, whose throwing error allowed both runners to score. Strowd (3-2) still got the victory by retiring Mesa on a ground ball to second.
Norfolk’s Justin Armbruester (2-3), who has been pitching better lately than his season earned-run average of 7.38 indicates, is scheduled to pitch Sunday against fellow right-hander Valente Bellozo (2-2, 3.94).
