Tides down Gwinnett 3-2

Minimizing the damage In the top of the first inning, Gwinnett had a chance to break the game open with the bases loaded and one out. Brandon Jones  hit a sacrifice fly  to deep right field to drive in Gregor Blanco.

Pauley, though, struck out Diory Hernandez to limit the damage to just a run.

“I wanted to keep it to one or two runs hopefully,” Pauley said. “Keep the scoring to a minimum. I was just glad to get out of it on the next guy.”

Pauley hurled six innings to pick up his ninth win, allowing a run on three hits and three walks.

“I was a little wild,” he said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. Some ground balls went my way. Defense was a big part. Everybody contributed.”

After the first two batters reached base in the top of the eighth off Bob McCrory , the Braves pulled to within a run two groundouts later. McCrory ended the threat by striking out Brandon Jones.

In the ninth, Alberto Castillo  retired three straight batters after giving up a leadoff double to Hernandez  to convert his 11th save.

“He gives up that double and you start thinking, 'Here we go again,’” Tides manager Gary Allenson  said of Castillo, who blew his first save for the Tides on Tuesday against the Braves. “But he doesn’t let anything bother him. He gets back on the mound and makes his pitches.”

Said Castillo: “I gave up that double and said, 'This can’t happen again.’ I told myself I have to get this save no matter what.” Fear them on Fridays The Tides raised their record to 9-1 in Friday night games at home, including seven straight wins.

Sizzling series Justin Turner went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored and finished the series 7 for 15 with two runs knocked in.

“I’m just trying to get into good hitting counts and then get good pitches to hit,” said Turner, who entered the game fourth in the International League with a .314 battting average. “I found some holes in the infield.”

Another gem For the second straight night, the Tides benefited from a third-inning defensive gem. Brooks Conrad  stroked a drive to deep center, but Joey Gathright  made a leaping backhanded grab to snare the ball out of the air.

“I just ran after the ball and tried to make a play,” he said.

He then rifled a throw to cutoff man Melvin Dorta.

“I didn’t know where the runner was,” Gathright added. “I looked in and saw he was on the (third base) side of second and got the ball in as quick as I could.”

The Braves’ Chris Burke was running on the play and was thrown at first base to end the inning.

What’s on tap Nine of the Tides’ 17 remaining games are against IL South Division-leading Gwinnett and wild-card leaders Durham. The Tides travel to play at Rochester today before heading back to Harbor Park Wednesday for a 10-game home stand starting with three games against Durham. Norfolk then closes out the home stand with three contests against Gwinnett starting Sept. 2 and finishes the season with a three-game series at Durham.

“We’re hoping to carry some momentum into the series in Rochester and get some wins up there,” Turner said. “You can’t look at the standings – you just try and win every night and catch them in the end.”

The Tides are six games behind Gwinnett in the division race and three behind Durham in the wildcard race.

– Darrell Cuenca