IronPigs waste brilliant outing by Gordon in 4-1 loss to Norfolk

FROM THE MORNING CALL

It's been hit-or-miss so far this season for Jan Perez.

The veteran left-hander allowed just eight hits in his first 15 innings out of the IronPigs bullpen but also walked 11, although he's managed to wiggle out of trouble enough for him to bring a solid 1.80 ERA into Sunday's matinee.

However, Perez the law of averages caught up with Perez against Norfolk.

Perez walked two batters in the ninth, both of whom scored as the Tides rallied to cool of the IronPigs 4-1 before 8,585 at Coca-Cola Park.

Brendan Harris and Michael Hernandez hit near-identical bouncing singles through the left side to drive in three runs in the ninth inning for Norfolk (14-23), which had just one hit over the first six innings.

Brandon Snyder opened the ninth with a single to center that fell in front of a charging Rich Thompson, and Perez (0-1) then walked Josh Bell and pinch-hitter Nolan Reimold to load the bases. Perez struck out Tyler Henson for the first out before giving way to Drew Carpenter, who fell behind Harris 3-0 before Harris bounced a 3-1 pitch between third baseman Ronnie Belliard and shortstop Brian Bocock to drive in two runs.

Hernandez followed with a single to basically the same spot to make it 4-1, and the IronPigs (21-16) went down in order in the ninth.

Perez came on in the top of the eighth after Jason Grilli left after 12 pitches when he felt tightness in his right lateral muscle. Perez, who inherited a one-out runner at first and a two-strike count on Blake Davis, completed the strikeout, then got Russ Adams to fly to left.

Grilli took over for Brian Gordon after the right-hander allowed a run on three hits over seven innings, needing just 70 pitches to match his longest career outing. The 32-year-old issued a one-out walk to Adams in the first, then retired 15 straight batters until Matt Angle beat out a one-out drag bunt in the sixth.

An inning later, Norfolk scored the first earned run he's allowed in 24 2/3 innings to tie the game at 1-1, although it took a little bit of luck and a diving catch by right fielder Delwyn Young to limit the damage to a run. After a leadoff bloop single by Snyder to center, Josh Bell hit a slicing liner to left that Brandon Moss dove for but couldn't come up with. Snyder would've scored easily on the play, and Bell probably would have wound up on third, had the ball not rolled under the access gate in left field for a ground-rule double.

The Tides got the tying run on Rhyne Hughes' sacrifice fly before Gordon struck out Tyler Hansen for the second out. Young then took at least an RBI single away from Harris with a diving catch on the run of his sinking liner.

Young also continued his resurgence at the plate with three hits, including an RBI single in the second inning after Ronnie Belliard doubled and moved to third on a balk, to extend his hitting streak to seven games (10-for-28, .357). It was also Young's fourth multi-hit game in 11 games after having just one in his first 24, raising his average from .167 to .217.

The IronPigs got the potential go-ahead run to third base with one out in the eighth when Bocock looped a single just inside the right field line, and the carom off the side wall rolled between the legs of Davis for a two-base error. But Bocock gambled and lost by going on contact on what turned out to be a comebacker off the bat of Joel Naughton, and after a hit-batter Henson retreated in left to make an over-the-shoulder catch of Cory Sullivan's drive and end the inning.

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