Both of the Norfolk Tides’ games this weekend were decided in the late innings, and both featured solid early starting pitching. On Saturday, the Tides lost 9-2 when starter Brad Bergesen tired, relief pitcher Willie Eyre was wild and ineffective, and Steve Tolleson made a crucial error, and Louisville scored six runs in the 7th inning. On Sunday, the Tides won 7-4 when Louisville relieved starting pitcher Chad Reineke with Carlos Fisher, Travis Webb, and Bill Bray, who were wild and ineffective.

Saturday, the Tides and the Bats were tied 1-1 after six innings, having traded solo home runs. Bergesen, who had thrown 73 pitches in his six innings, walked the first batter on five pitches and hit the second batter on his next pitch. The next batter singled in the go-ahead run and, after a sacrifice bunt, the Tides relieved Bergesen with Willie Eyre. who walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a sacrifice fly. With the score 4-2, Denis Phipps hit a ground ball up the middle. Shortstop Tolleson thought he would make the force play himself, then changed his mind but dropped the ball when he tried to take it out of his glove for the flip to second. After another walk, Neftali Soto cleared the bases with a double to right-center and it was all over but the shouting.

On Sunday, the Tides were trailing 4-2 when the Bats relieved starter Chad Reineke, who had thrown 96 pitches, with Carlos Fisher. who had walked 11 batters in 11 2/3 innings. He retired the first batter on a fly out before walking Jai Miller, who advanced to third on a stolen-base-plus-throwing error. After a strikeout, Fisher walked Xavier Avery. Matt Antonelli singled to right, scoring Miller, and Jamie Hoffmann doubled, scoring Avery. Travis Webb came in to face the lefthanded-hitting Joe Mahoney. During the at-bat, Webb uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Antonelli to score the lead run. Bill Bray came in to pitch the eighth and surrendered two more runs.

One of the most difficult parts of a manager’s job is running the pitching staff. It’s a challenge to determine whether or not a pitcher has anything left; if the manager gets it wrong, or brings in a pitcher who doesn’t have it, a game can be lost. We don’t know if the Tides and Louisville managers made the right decisions or not; but those specific decisions didn’t work and their teams lost.