THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050701
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
What Pawtucket's bats couldn't do, nature took care of Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.
That is, Mike Birkbeck's stiff right forearm bothered him just enough that the Norfolk Tides righthander suggested he be removed from the game after five innings.
While the Tides' bullpen beyond the rightfield fence didn't quite rock with whoops of joy, its work-starved inhabitants knew that meant at least four innings for them.
Eagerly, three relievers split them and followed Birkbeck's strong lead in finishing out a 4-1 victory.
It gave the Tides a 6-1 record for their homestand as they head into their longest trip of the season - 11 games in three cities.
``It was nice to get an inning,'' said lefthander Don Florence, after his first appearance since April 26 in Columbus. ``It's a whole lot different in a game than it is in the bullpen.''
Florence was the Tides' third pitcher of the day.
Newcomer Phil Stidham, claimed off waivers from the Detroit Tigers on April 24, pitched the sixth and seventh, Florence got the eighth and Pete Walker earned his second save with a scoreless ninth.
In all, the four pitchers allowed just five hits, with the only run scoring on Glenn Murray's home run off Birkbeck in the fifth.
``It's no use at this point to try to push it,'' said Birkbeck, who had a magnetic resonance imaging test Wednesday on a sore right wrist that hurts him while hitting but not pitching. ``I wasn't really loose all day.''
Not that anybody could tell. The 34-year-old veteran allowed three hits, walked none and struck out four as he improved his record to 4-2. No Red Sox runner except Murray advanced past first as the Tides (17-9) turned three of their season-high four double plays behind Birkbeck.
``Coming from the Tigers' organization, I haven't been around this kind of starting pitching my whole career,'' said Stidham, who hadn't worked since April 25 because of the Tides' string of outstanding starts.
``It's unbelievable. There are some really good arms here.''
There hasn't been an overwhelming amount of offense lately, but it has been enough to boost the Tides to eight victories in their last nine games. In the last seven, they scored more than four runs twice, but the timeliness of the hits has been impressive.
Thursday, for instance, the Tides scored twice in the second on three hits, including Rey Ordonez's two-out single.
They bunched three more singles in the sixth, the third - by torrid Aaron Ledesma (.448 in eight games) - scoring Ed Alicea.
By then, the bullpen's gate had been thrown open to some grateful pitchers.
``You gotta go with it,'' Florence said with a shrug.
``You can't stop a good thing, you just keep it rolling.''
The innings will eventually come, Florence said, especially once the humid dog days begin to tax starters and makeup doubleheaders create spot-starting opportunities.
Until then, Florence said, there is a silver lining to the relief corps' general idleness: ``It's good to be on a winning team.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Tides shortstop Rey Ordonez is unable to catch up with a base hit at
Harbor Park where Norfolk closed out its homestand at 6-1.
by CNB