Sellout crowd. Bottom of the ninth. Two outs. Trailing by three runs.

Richmond's Enrique Cruz stepped to the plate and lived every kid's dream at The Diamond last night. Unfortunately, he didn't get to finish it.

With chants of "Let's go Braves" thundering from the crowd of 12,541, Cruz delivered a three-run homer that produced a 4-4 tie against Norfolk. The R-Braves, though, couldn't sustain the momentum, giving up a pair of runs in the 14th inning to absorb a 6-4 loss.

Richmond has dropped 15 of its past 18 games.

Cruz, the No. 9 hitter in Richmond's lineup, hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning of the Braves' 6-5 victory Thursday in Norfolk. His homer last night came after a leadoff single by Scott Thorman and a two-out single by Jason Phillips.

Richmond had a chance to win the game in the 11th. Carl Loadenthal walked with two outs and stole second. Phillips followed with a grounder in the hole between first and second, but Tides second baseman Eider Torres made a diving stop and threw out Phillips.

Norfolk broke through in the 14th. Chris Roberson reached on shortstop Derrick Arnold's fielding error, took second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Tike Redman's single. Torres followed with an RBI double.

LONG NIGHT: The large crowd applauded skydivers, waited out a 26-minute rain delay to start the game, entertained itself by doing the wave, cheered promotions between innings, booed close calls, endured a 4-hour, 30-minute game and, in the ninth inning, drew a warning from the umpires for throwing an object onto the field.

BALKING, BARKING: Richmond reliever Matt DeSalvo was called for a pair of balks, the first of which led to two Norfolk runs and the second of which led to an animated demonstration from Braves manager Dave Brundage that cost him an ejection.

DeSalvo picked off Redman at first base in the sixth, but third-base umpire Manny Gonzalez called a balk on the move. DeSalvo got two outs -- meaning the inning would have been over -- before walking two batters and allowing a two-run, flare single to Jeff Fiorentino.

In the eighth, DeSalvo was called for a balk by plate-umpire Andrew Vincent. Brundage argued with Vincent, then went to the mound and, to the delight of the crowd, stood on the rubber and repeatedly imitated DeSalvo's move to first base.

GOING UP: Outfielder Jason Perry was promoted to Atlanta to replace struggling outfielder Jeff Francoeur, who was sent to Double-A Mississippi. Perry was hitting .302 in 31 games with Richmond. He had five homers and 14 RBI.To replace Perry, outfielder Reid Gorecki was called up from Mississippi. Gorecki, who was signed by Atlanta in May after being released from the St. Louis organization, was hitting .319 in 29 games. He had five homers and 23 RBI.

UP NEXT: Richmond and Norfolk play at 6 p.m. at The Diamond. Braves right-hander Jerome Gamble (0-3, 8.20 ERA) is scheduled to oppose righty Andy Mitchell (7-5, 4.85). Postgame fireworks are on tap again. About 2,000 tickets remain for the game.

Contact Tim Pearrell at (804) 649-6965 or tpearrell@timesdispatch.com.

NORFOLK	RICHMOND
	a	r	h	bi			a	r	h	bi
Redman lf	7	2	3	1		Andrsn cf	5	0	0	0
Torres 2b	6	1	1	1		Arnold ss	6	0	0	0
Salazar 1b	7	0	0	0		Jones rf	5	0	0	0
Cstnzo 3b	5	1	0	0		Canzrs dh	6	0	0	0
Terrero dh	5	1	3	2		Thrmn 1b	6	1	1	0
Fiorntno cf	5	0	2	2		Hrnandz 2b	6	1	2	0
Santos c	6	0	1	0		Ldnthl lf	5	0	2	1
Roberson rf	6	1	1	0		Phillips c	6	1	2	0
Hrnndz ss	5	0	1	0		Cruz 3b	5	1	2	3
Totals	52	6	12	6		Totals	31	1	6	1

Norfolk ------------------------- 000 002 020 000 02 -- 6 12 0
Richmond ------------------------- 000 100 003 000 00 -- 4 9 3

E -- Anderson (3), Arnold 2 (5). DP -- Richmond 1. LOB -- Norfolk 10, Richmond 8. 2B -- Torres (13), Phillips (1). HR -- Terrero (8), Cruz (3). S -- Hernandez, Anderson. SB -- Fiorentino (2), Loadenthal (6), Jones (5). CS -- Salazar (2), Roberson (12).

Norfolk	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Keisler	7	5	1	1	2	3
Leicester	1	0	0	0	0	2
Castillo	2.2	3	3	3	1	3
Miller W 2-2	3	1	0	0	0	5
Novoa S 2	.1	0	0	0	0	0
Richmond
Resop	5	4	0	0	0	3
DeSalvo	2.2	3	4	4	3	3
Nunez	1	0	0	0	1	2
Shibilo	2	2	0	0	0	1
Rouwenhorst	3	3	2	1	1	1

WP -- Keisler

BK -- DeSalvo 2.

Time -- 4:31. A -- 12,541 paid.