Bannon’s slam just enough for Tides

Rutschman reaches 3 times in his return

Rylan Bannon hit a first-inning grand slam and Adley Rutschman reached base three times in his return to the Tides as Norfolk held off Nashville 6-5 Friday night before 5,299 at First Horizon Park in Tennessee.

The victory enabled the Tides (14-14) to level their six-game series with the Sounds (18-9) at two victories apiece. The fifth clash was set for Saturday night, and the final matchup is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. today.

Diogenes Almengo (3-0) earned the victory with two hitless innings of relief after starter Cody Sedlock’s four-inning stint. Ethan Small (2-1) took the loss despite striking out six in four innings.

Rutschman, one of baseball’s best prospects, has played most of his minor league games as a catcher. Friday, he was at first base. He batted 1 for 3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch in his first Triple-A game since he has healed from a triceps strain.

His one-out single to center began the Tides’ first-inning surge. Yusniel Diaz’s single and Jacob Nottingham’s two-out walk preceded Bannon’s blast to center field.

In the top of the ninth, Diaz singled, raced to third on a single to left by Kyle Stowers and scored on Nottingham’s sacrifice fly. That run for a 6-3 lead turned out to be critical because of a nearly disastrous play in the bottom of the ninth. With two runners on base and one out, Rutschman mishandled Jonathan Davis’ batted ball and Stowers, the right fielder, threw the ball away. Both runners scored, and the potential tying runner was at third. The Tides escaped, though, when lefthander Nick Vespi induced groundouts by Brice Turang and Tyler White for his third save of the year.