Tides’ slide reaches six games

A day after hitting a tie-breaking grand slam, Lane Thomas was the difference for the Memphis Redbirds again Friday night.

Thomas’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a tie, and Memphis held on for a 6-5 victory over the Norfolk Tides at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Tides (24-36) have lost six straight, including four against the Redbirds (27-36).

Norfolk showed some fight in this one, rallying from a 5-2 deficit to tie it in the fifth inning. Zach Jarrett hit a solo shot in the third — his seventh homer of the season — to make it 5-3. He finished the night with three hits and two RBIs.

Then in the fifth, Seth Mejias-Brean scored from third on a throwing error by Memphis catcher Ali Sanchez as J.C. Escarra was stealing second base. Jarrett followed with an RBI single to tie it at 5.

But Thomas came through for the Redbirds in the next inning.

Memphis starter Matthew Liberatore (4-5) allowed all five Norfolk runs, but got the win thanks to strong relief. Tyler Webb, from the Eastern Shore’s Northampton High, pitched a scoreless seventh and Connor Thomas shut down the Tides in the eighth and ninth innings to pick up his first save.

The Redbirds finished with 11 hits. Evan Mendoza had three of them, while Conner Capel and

Kramer Robertson had two each.

Tides starter Kyle Bradish didn’t make it out of the second inning, allowing five runs on four hits.

Tyler Nevin hit a two-run homer — his 12th of the season — to give Norfolk a brief lead in the first.

The series ends with a 3:05 p.m. game today.