Monday night at Harbor Park: Tides 8, Charlotte 7

ANOTHER sustained rally helped propel the Tides to victory. Norfolk sent 11 batters to the plate in the third inning and scored six runs against Charlotte start er Wes Whisler.

Mike Costanzo delivered the big blow when, with two outs, he smacked a double to right-centerfield that scored Eider Torres, Jeff Fiorentino and Luis Terrero. Costanzo's hit would loom large when, late in the game, the Tides' bullpen nearly surrendered the lead.

"It was a different ball game after Constanzo's hit," Norfolk manager Gary Allenson said.

Tides rising

It’s hard to believe, but the Tides (61-68) are within striking distance of the Durham Bulls, the first-place team in the South Division. After its victory Monday, Norfolk will be no worse than 6½ games back heading into its series against Toledo; the Tides could push even closer to the Bulls in the coming days.

“It would be nice to make it interesting,” Allenson said.

With Durham headed to Louisville for a four-game series, the Bulls could see their lead dwindle even further as the end of the regular season approaches. The Bats are the hottest team in the International League. They entered Monday night 15-1 this month and hadn’t lost in a week.

The Tides, meanwhile, have orchestrated a remarkable turnaround that is almost as noteworthy as Louisville’s sustained success. After being 23 games under .500 on the last day of June, the Tides are inching ever closer to evening their record as the season winds down.

“Durham is a good team,” designated hitter Tike Redman said. “If they lose, they lose. We have to take care of business and see what happens.”

The Tides’ sweep of the Knights offered another indication of how well the team has been playing in the past seven weeks. Norfolk had defeated a single opponent in four consecutive games only once; that occurred against Durham, when the Tides began their surge in early July.

Winning without the long ball

In the fifth inning, Redman accomplished a minor feat when he turned on a pitch delivered by Charlotte’s Derek Rodriguez and smacked it over the fence in rightfield for a home run.

The Tides, who have struggled to clear the fences all year, have gone deep only four times this month. “Can you believe that?” said Costanzo as he turned to teammate Oscar Salazar, who shrugged.

Redman can. He has only two home runs this year – both at Harbor Park, where hitters with pop seem to fizzle. In 64 home games, Norfolk’s batters have only hit 22 home runs.

“Everybody kind of knows that we don’t hit a lot of them,” Redman said. “But we get hits when we need them.”

Odds and ends

Radhames Liz was named the International League Pitcher of the Week. He went 1-1 with an 0.64 ERA in two starts. Reliever Jim Miller was honored with the same distinction last week. … The ERA of the Tides’ starters in Norfolk’s series against Charlotte: 1.04. They allowed three earned runs in 26 innings.