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 tw.