The Tides Will Turn

The Norfolk Tides lost on Thursday night to the Syracuse Chiefs by a score of 9-3. The Tides have been struggling this season. They currently hold a 29-45 record and sit 13.5 games back from the top of the South Division in the International League.

The Tides have only recorded two wins in the past ten games. In those ten games, Norfolk has been outscored 53-20. They also were shut out in three of these games as well. The team has been struggling, but it almost all falls on their pitching.

The pitching issues could be a result of Kevin Gausman being called up to the Baltimore Orioles. Nevertheless, they have been struggling both with and without Gausman in the rotation. The Norfolk Tides pitching staff has both the second lowest amount of wins and the second most losses in the entire International League. The pitching staff is throwing a combined 4.82 ERA and has allowed 66 home runs this season.

Orioles No. 5 prospect, Mike Wright is having a bad 2014 season so far.  He currently holds a 1-6 record with a 6.79 ERA to his name. Wright has only held the opponents to less than four runs twice (May 1st and 6th).

Wright’s main issue is pitching with runners on base. When the bases are empty, he has a 1.20 ERA. However when at least one base runner gets on, that ERA goes up to 11.97. Wright really needs to settle done and trust in his pitches when the other team gets on base because if he wants to play in the Majors, he is going to have to pitch with confidence and control.

The pitcher who got off to a rocky start at the beginning of the season in Norfolk but has settled down and is pitching effectively as of late is Suk-min Yoon. In his past four starts, Yoon has had three quality starts, two of which he recorded wins in. His last start on June 16th was one of these wins. In this particular game, Yoon pitched six innings where he only allowed three runs off of seven hits and struck out six batters in the process.

Hopefully, Yoon’s effectiveness will spread to his fellow pitchers like the common cold. Norfolk begins a four game series against Indianapolis on Friday. Perhaps, “the Tides will turn in Norfolk.”