The other rehabbing Orioles, Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías, accounted for all of Norfolk’s run scoring in a loss.
Triple-A: Nashville (Brewers) 5, Norfolk Tides 3
The big headline for the Orioles from this one is that there are now three rehabbing Orioles hitters getting into action over the final few Tides games. Ryan Mountcastle joined the club at Triple-A after Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías returned to pro game action on Thursday.
The rehab crew made their impact right away, with Norfolk grabbing an early lead thanks to Westburg leading off the bottom of the first with a double and Urías driving him in with a single. That was a good beginning. The main problem for the Tides is that these two guys accounted for the entirety of their offense on the night. In the eighth, after Norfolk was trailing 5-1, Westburg got another hit and Urías followed with a two-run home run to the opposite field.
That was four of Norfolk’s seven hits right there. Mountcastle, in his first rehab game, went 0-4 while striking out twice. Jud Fabian was 0-3 and struck out twice, also drawing a walk. Each of Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo pinch hit late in the game and went 0-1 in that appearance.
The starting pitcher for Norfolk in this one was Brandon Young, freshly named the winner of this year’s Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year award from the organization. Bit of a bummer on the timing for Young for this reason: They had a ceremony presenting the developmental awards ahead of Friday’s Orioles game in Baltimore, and Young couldn’t make it since he was due to pitch for the Tides.
For Young, it wasn’t a great outing and it wasn’t a disaster. The Sounds grabbed all three of their runs against him in one tough inning, where four singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly turned into three runs. Overall, Young allowed three runs on five hits and three walks across a five inning start. He struck out three batters in his final start of the season. The 6’6” righty had a 3.44 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 20 games for the Tides this year.
Reliever Luis González surrendered two runs in his two innings of work, setting up Nashville with the five runs they used to win the game. González was on the wrong end of a two-run home run hit by first baseman Wes Clarke, his 17th of the season.
Saturday’s Scheduled Game
- Norfolk: vs. Nashville, 6:35. Starter: Justin Armbruester