Marin tough again, but Charlotte Knights lose in 9th

Sean Halton doubled home two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Norfolk Tides to a 2-1 victory over the Charlotte Knights on Tuesday at Harbor Park, spoiling another fantastic outing from Charlotte starter Terance Marin.

It was less than one month ago that Marin, 25, was pitching for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League. In 10 games with the Toros, he posted a 2-5 record with a 4.94 ERA. On June 5, the Chicago White Sox reinstated Marin – who was on loan to the Toros – and assigned him to the Knights. Since then, he has been one of the toughest pitchers in the International League.

Marin struck out five batters and did not allow a run over seven scoreless innings. He gave up just four hits and one walk, and he extended his scoreless streak to 29 (five games).

Norfolk starter Zach Davies did not allow a run over five innings. Reliever Eddie Gamboa (6-5) went three shutout innings before facing George Kottaras.

Kottaras put the Knights on the scoreboard in the ninth inning with a solo home run off Gamboa. The home run – Kottaras’ fifth over his last six games – gave the Knights a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Knights reliever Blake Smith, who did not allow a run in the eighth inning, with Onelki Garcia.

Garcia retired fellow Cuban native Henry Urrutia to begin the ninth, but then had his troubles.

Derrik Gibson drew a one-out walk to put the tying run on base. Christian Walked followed with a single, and Dariel Alvarez moved both runners with a groundout to third baseman Matt Davidson.

With runners on second and third and two outs, Halton drove a fly ball to left field, scoring Gibson and Walker. The victory propelled the Tides back into first place in the IL South Division, a half-game ahead of the Knights.

The two teams will conclude the three-game series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. The Knights will start RHP Kyle Drabek (3-4), while the Tides will go with RHP Tyler Wilson (3-4). The game will be Charlotte’s final one on a 10-game road trip.

This story was originally published June 30, 2015 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Marin tough again, but Charlotte Knights lose in 9th."