DATE: Wednesday, July 30, 1997              TAG: 9707300665

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   67 lines

RICHMOND RIPS ROBERTS IN 1ST FOR WINSTILL, THE TIDES' LEFTY TURNS IN HIS 2ND STRAIGHT QUALITY START IN A COMEBACK FROM SURGERY

Norfolk Tides pitcher Chris Roberts got a bad break Tuesday night when a routine ground ball decided to bounce on the edge of the infield grass, scoot through a teammate's legs and ignite a four-run first inning that led to a 4-2 loss to Richmond.

But when looking at the ``big'' picture, it wasn't such a bad night.

The lefthanded Roberts, who was a first-round pick by the New York Mets in the 1992, appears to have now battled back from shoulder surgery two years ago.

Roberts, who pitched for the Tides in 1995, underwent surgery to repair a ruptured bursa sac and remove a torn labrum. The road back has been long, but after two starts for the Tides, Roberts seems to have removed some doubt whether he'd make it back to at least the Triple-A level.

``I've had two pretty decent starts, even though they were both losses,'' said Roberts, who absorbed a 5-2 loss to Charlotte last week. ``I've kept the team in the game, and that's all I can do.''

Sometimes, like Tuesday at Harbor Park, it's just not meant to be.

Pablo Martinez led off the game with a double off the wall in left, and Roberts then walked Mike Mordecai.

But when it looked like the Tides might get a helpful double-play ball from the next hitter, Ed Giovanola's bouncer to second baseman Jason Hardtke landed on the cut line, and the ball unexpectedly shot through his legs, allowing Martinez to score and Mordecai to reach third.

``Hardtke never had a chance,'' said Tides manager Rick Dempsey. ``That was such an unbelievably bad hop that it could have been ruled a hit.''

``I didn't even get leather on it,'' Hardtke said. ``The ball hit me on the big toe. If anything, I was expecting it to go high, that's what second bounces on this infield usually do. We probably get out of that inning with no runs. If we'd turned the double play, they'd have had a guy on third with two out.

Roberts then walked T.R. Lewis to load the bases and Tommy Gregg delivered a two-run single to the gap in right. Lewis then scored when Randall Simon grounded into a force out.

Roberts, however, stuck around for six more innings, walking two and striking out three. He and relievers Ricardo Jordan and Jim Dougherty didn't allow any Braves to reach third after the first inning, and only three Braves made it to second.

Norfolk, meanwhile, scored in the second when Roberto Petagine walked, advanced to third on a single by Wes Chamberlain and came home when Tate Seefried grounded into a double play.

Petagine added his 24th home run of the season, a towering blast to right, to lead off the fourth and cut the margin to 4-2.

Richmond ran three relievers to the mound from the sixth inning on to protect Tommy Harrison's lead, as he improved to 6-4.

The Tides (61-46) now travel to Richmond for two games - rehabbing major leaguer Pete Harnisch gets tonight's start - before moving on to Charlotte for three consecutive doubleheaders beginning Friday.

``Chris didn't pitch bad after that first inning,'' Dempsey said. ``But you can't take that first inning away. It counts. And Chris seems to be falling into that same pattern that all of our starters are in. We don't seem to be able to get out of a first inning without some type of damage.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Norfolk's Shawn Gilbert steals second base as Richmond catcher

Fausto Tejero's throw skips past Braves' second baseman Pablo

Martinez.

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