Norfolk pitchers combined to retire the last 14 Indianapolis batters they faced, as starter Chorye Spoone struck out four over five scoreless innings before relievers Mark Hendrickson and Alberto Castillo combined for four perfect innings of relief, to lead the Tides to a 6-0 shutout of the Indians last night at Victory Field.

Spoone earned his first victory of the season after striking out four and allowing just three hits over five innings of work.  Following Spoone, the Tides bullpen combined for a perfect outing as veteran southpaw Hendrickson struck out one over three dominating innings and fellow lefty Castillo finished off the contest with a perfect ninth.

The Tides got off to a quick start as CF Tyler Henson and 2B Ryan Adams began the game with back-to-back singles.  Then after back-to-back strikeouts, Nolan Reimold lifted a double to center to score both Henson and Adams and give Norfolk an early 2-0 advantage.

The Tides then extended their lead with a single tally in the third off the bat of Brandon Snyder, who launched a solo homer to right-center field with two outs to give Norfolk a 3-0 lead. 

Snyder also sparked the Tides’ third and final scoring rally when he led off the sixth with a single, before moving to second on a walk by Reimold.  Rhyne Hughes then belted the game’s big blast when he lined a three-run homer over the wall in right center field to cap the scoring for Norfolk at 6-0.

Indians starter Rudy Owens suffered the loss to fall to 2-2 on the season after surrendering a season worst six runs on nine hits, including both Tides home runs.  The Indianapolis bullpen continued to be a bright spot as Chris Leroux and Jose Ascanio combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.

The Indians and Tides wrap up their four-game series tonight at 7:15 p.m. RHP Ryan Drese is scheduled to start for Norfolk, while LHP Brian Burres is expected to get the nod for Indianapolis.

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