A New Role for Yoon

The Norfolk Tides and Buffalo Bisons squared off in day game on Tuesday. The game was another chance for Brett Wallace to get revenge on his old team and revenge he got. After going 2-3 on Monday’s 7-4 victory over the Tides, Wallace had yet another multi-hit game on Tuesday.

After hitting a double into center field to lead off the second inning, Wallace hit his eleventh home run of the year (first with Buffalo) over the center field wall as well. This shot tied the game up at 2-a-piece. Wallace would end the night going 3-5 with his bat; singling in the top of the ninth inning.

The score would remain deadlocked at 2-2 through nine innings as the fans at Harbor Park got a baseball fan’s favorite thing… Free baseball.

In the top of the tenth inning, a surprise came out of the bullpen to pitch for the Tides. Before today, Suk-min Yoon has played in 16 games and started in all of them. In this extra-inning game, Yoon pitched as a reliever. In his first inning as a reliever, he pitched well.

During the tenth inning, Yoon threw 15 pitches and only allowed a ground ball single to center field. The batter before the single struck out looking as Yoon hit his target with a pitch up in the strike zone for the second out of the inning.

After throwing a good inning of relief, Yoon was put back out there to pitch the eleventh inning. After forcing Wallace to ground out to second base for the first out of the inning, Yoon began to break down. After giving up back-to-back singles, he walked the fourth batter of the inning to load the bases with just one out.

And once the Norfolk pitching couch came out to talk to Yoon in an attempt to calm down his pitcher, Yoon self-imploded giving up a three-RBI double on the very next pitch. Despite giving up those three runs, Norfolk’s manager left Yoon in the ball game to face the next batter.

However, after he walked him to put runners on first and second base with only one out still, Yoon was taken out of the game and replaced by Robert Coello. Yoon’s base runner on second scored off a two-out RBI single to center field which ultimately put the “final nail in the coffin” for the Tides.

Norfolk dropped the game in extra innings by a score of 6-2 and Yoon picked up his eighth loss of the season (first as a reliever). Although he gave up four runs off of four hits and two walks, Yoon’s role as a reliever may be an experiment to see if the Orioles could get Yoon up to Baltimore quicker than he could as a starter.