Rain, Ugly Rain

Game 44, May 19, DBAP	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Norfolk Tides (Orioles)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	3	9	2
Durham Bulls (Rays)	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	4	1

Season: 26-18; Home Stand: 1-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

It says a lot about the Norfolk Tides’ pitcher, Zack Britton, that of the 24 Bulls he faced only one hit a fly ball, an out to left field. All the rest were ground balls, just four singles, two into double plays. He had a great night.

Nevertheless, before the deluge things weren’t looking too bad. Britton was not nearly as sharp as the 7th inning opened. The Bulls had scored a run and had runners on first and third with nobody out. Tim Beckham was at the plate with, I think, a 2-2 count. But it really started raining buckets.

I left. According to the Herald-Sun the umps waited 2½ hours to make the call.

Bulls pitcher, J.D. Martin, actually had a pretty good night. His only real mistake was a home run to Tides’ first baseman Travis Ishikawa. Martin throws strikes and, mostly, gets Ks and lets the defense get the rest. They usually do that this year. He got a lot of help with terrific plays by Jason Bourgeois and Craig Albernaz who punished runners for trying to stretch singles into doubles. Otherwise the 7th inning would have more than just the one unearned run by the Tides. The Bulls are a match for the them, it seems to me. We’ll have to see how this season plays out.

Outside the game —

• Shelley Duncan left a game up in Rochester on May 17 and hasn’t played since. Does anyone know what I’ve missed?
• Alex Torres is coming back. Jake Odorizzi will be starting a game against the Blue Jays. The Bulls are still short one pitcher.

UPDATE: 12:45. Missed this. Jeff Beliveau is on his way back. Wonder if he even got to put on a Rays uniform?