Tides 5, Durham 4

BEN DAVIS GUESSED he would see another cut fastball from Durham's Juan Salas. He was hoping he'd actually lay eyes on it this time. "He threw me those first two pitches and I barely saw them," Davis said. Behind

0-2 in the count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Davis got a better look at a third cutter - and drove it into the rightfield bullpen, sending his jubilant teammates spilling out of the dugout to greet him at home plate Tuesday night.

Costly mistake

Salas, on in relief of starter Mitch Talbot, had tied the Tides (20-32) in knots to that point, retiring seven straight by relying on his late-breaking cut fastball, which Davis said is reminiscent of the one thrown by Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees.

"It looks like it’s far outside, then it breaks in," said Davis, the Tides' catcher. "The guy is not fun to hit against."

Salas struck out three and allowed just one hit – the Tides first walk-off home run since Aug. 12, 2006.

"He made one mistake, 0 and 2," Tides manager Gary Allenson said.

Solid defense

Norfolk's hard-throwing Bob McCrory was not much fun to hit against, either, giving up just one hit in 2 1/2 innings. McCrory’s fastball reached 96 mph and he got out of a ninth-inning jam with the help of third baseman Scott Moore .

McCrory walked the speedy Fernando Perez to open the inning. Perez moved to second on a sacrifice and to third on a wild pitch.

McCrory struck out Justin Ruggiano for the second out, then faced Willy Aybar, down from Tampa Bay on a rehab assignment. Aybar hit a sharp grounder to the left side of the infield. Moore dove to his left and threw out Aybar to end the inning.

"That was a game-saver," Davis said.

Moore also dove to his right to rob Aybar of a hit in the third.

A step forward

Tides starters have pitched well in the current homestand, going 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA heading into Tuesday’s game. Though he didn't get his first Triple-A win, starter Chris Waters continued the trend, settling down after a rough start.

Allenson decided to leave Waters in after he visited the mound in the top of the seventh. Waters had just walked Ruggiano on four pitches to put runners on first and second with two out and Aybar headed to the plate.

Waters threw a first-pitch fastball that Aybar lined to leftfield for a double, putting Durham (27-25) ahead 4-3. It was his last pitch of the night.

"I gave him a chance to win the game," Allenson said.

The Tides answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh to set up the homer by Davis.

"Needless to say, we persevered tonight," Allenson said.