By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET --- He may have been a visiting player for the Norfolk Tides, but David Pauley felt right at home in his return to Pawtucket on Thursday night at McCoy Stadium.
Pauley, who pitched for the Pawtucket Red Sox from 2006-08, delivered a strong performance against his former team by scattering eight hits through 6 1/3 innings and helped the Tides register a 5-3 victory that resulted in the PawSox’s 10th loss in their last 12 games.
Pauley struck out three batters and walked two and benefited from a three-run rally by his teammates in the top of the seventh inning that erased a 3-1 deficit and allowed him to win his eighth game of the season.
Pauley also received a helping hand from the groundout, which helped him produce a 21-13 record in 61 career starts with the PawSox, as 10 of the 19 outs he recorded were via grounders.
“Everything was working pretty good today,” added Pauley. “I was keeping the ball down and I got a lot of groundball outs, and that’s pretty much what I’m trying to do every time out.”
Two of Pauley’s former teammates, rehabbing Red Sox first baseman Jeff Bailey and right fielder Chris Carter, tried to spoil Pauley’s homecoming by having big nights at the plate. Bailey, who batted leadoff, went 3-for-4, and Carter belted a two-run homer in the fifth to make it a 3-1 contest.
“Carter hit a good pitch -- a change-up down on the first pitch -- and he got a good piece of it, and Bales is swinging the bat a lot better now,” reported Pauley. “If I have to give it up to anybody, I guess those guys would be the ones.”  
Pauley was opposed on the mound by Randor Bierd, who was making his second spot start of the season, and ironically, was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Red Sox for Pauley on Jan. 19.  
Bierd went the first five innings, striking out four and surrendering six hits, a walk, and the Tides’ first run in the top of the third on a run-scoring line single to left by Joey Gathright, one of three hits by the former Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Kansas City Royals outfielder. 
The PawSox tied the score in the fourth on a RBI single to center by Chris Duncan that drove in Carter, and in the fifth, they went ahead when Bailey doubled with one out and scored on Carter’s team-leading 14th home run of the season to right-center.
The Tides finally took the lead for good in the seventh by tallying their runs on four hits off two relievers, losing pitcher T.J. Large and southpaw Hunter Jones. Brandon Pinckney’s RBI double to center and run-scoring singles by Justin Turner and Brandon Snyder did the damage.
Norfolk’s final run came in the ninth off reliever Marcus McBeth when Jeff Fiorentino ripped a run-producing single to center.    
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Norfolk    001    000    301--5-13-0
Pawtucket    000    120    000--3-9-0
Pauley, Perrault (7), Castillo (9) and Hammock; Bierd, Large (6), Jones (7), McBeth (9) and Brown. W -- Pauley, 8-7. L -- Large, 2-1. SV -- Castillo, 10. 2B -- Fiorentino, Pinckney, Bailey, Duncan. HR -- Carter (14).