Much like their parent club, the Norfolk Tides could not hold on to a 2-1 lead and dropped Game Three of the International League playoffs, 4-2.

In the sixth inning, Toledo tallied a run on an RBI single by Alexis Gomez to tie the game  And then The Mud Hens rallied for the winning runs in the bottom of the 8th inning off of Tides reliever Jeremy Hill.

Marcuse Thames, who finished the night 3-for-3 with three runs scored, led off the eighth inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. One out later, Gookie Dawkins squirted a single up the middle, plating Thames and giving the Mud Hens a 3-2 lead. Dawkins would score later in the inning on an RBI single by Toledo second baseman Ryan Raburn.

Norfolk threatened in the ninth inning off of Toledo closer Jason Karnuth, as Rodney Nye lined a one out double down the left field line. Karnuth escaped any damage by retiring Chris Basak and Ron Calloway, giving the Mud Hens a 2-1 lead in the best of five series.

The game started off fine for the Tides and they had taken a 2-1 lead in the third inning, as Anderson Hernandez grounded a chopper to Raburn with runners on second and third. Raburn threw home to try and force out Tides catcher Joe Hietpas, but the throw sailed high, allowing both Hietpas and Angel Pagan to score.

The Tides collected just four hits in the game, with all of them going for extra bases. They notched three doubles and a triple in the loss.

Norfolk and Toledo resume their series with a 7:00 game Saturday night from Fifth Third Field in Toledo.

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