Smith-Shawver Brilliant, But Stripers Lose Late 4-3 in Norfolk

Press Release

NORFOLK, Virginia – AJ Smith-Shawver retired the final 16 batters he faced over 5.1 scoreless, one-hit innings on Tuesday night, but it didn’t lead to a win as the Gwinnett Stripers (20-20, 58-56) fell 4-3 to the Norfolk Tides (12-26, 40-73) at Harbor Park. Reed Trimble’s three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth tipped the game to the Tides.

Decisive Plays:  The combination of Patrick Clohisy and Carlos Santana worked for Gwinnett’s first two runs, with Clohisy walking and scoring on a two-out single by Santana in the third and singling and scoring on a two-out single by Santana in the fifth. In the sixth, Cal Conley unloaded on a solo home run (4) to right field to make it 3-0. Smith-Shawver retired the first batter before exiting in the sixth, and the Tides ended the shutout a batter later as Luis Vazquez homered (4) off Hayden Harris to cut Gwinnett’s lead to 3-1. In the eighth, Trimble belted a three-run homer (5) off Blake Burkhalter (L, 2-1) to put the Tides up 4-3. Brewer Hicklen walked to lead off the ninth but was left stranded.

Key Contributors: Smith-Shawver (5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO) lowered his Triple-A ERA to 1.66 in his fifth start with Gwinnett this season. Santana (3-for-5, 2 RBIs, steal), Clohisy (3-for-4, 2 runs, steal), and Conley (2-for-4, homer, run, RBI, steal) combined for eight of the Stripers’ 11 hits. Trimble (1-for-4, homer, 3 RBIs) had the game-winning hit for Norfolk. Tides’ relievers Andrew Magno (W, 2-3) and Jose Espada (S, 5) combined on 2.0 scoreless innings to finish the game.

Noteworthy:  Burkhalter saw his 15-game, 19.1-inning scoreless streak snapped in the loss. Clohisy raised his Triple-A average to .405 with his 11^th multi-hit game as a Striper. With three steals in the game, Gwinnett now has 216 for the season, one away from tying the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A single-season record (217 set by the 2024 Stripers).

Next Game (Wednesday, August 12):  Gwinnett Stripers at Norfolk Tides, 6:35 p.m. ET at Harbor Park. Radio Broadcast: 6:20 p.m. on MyCountry993.com. Live Video Stream: Bally Sports Live.