The Durham Bulls seem to be hitting the doldrums at a very bad time, and on Thursday night they just about hit rock bottom.
Andrew Garcia had a grand slam, Dayan Viciedo a two-run shot and Gookie Dawkins a solo, leading the Charlotte Knights to a 12-7 win at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The Bulls scored four runs in the ninth, two off a Robinson Chirinos homer, to make for a more respectable final score.
The result, Durham’s third straight loss, left the Bulls three games ahead of the second-place Gwinnett Braves in the International League’s South Division. The Bulls’ “magic number” is nine to clinch their fifth straight division title.
Starter Deunte Heath (3-7) was the winning pitcher for Charlotte while Brian Baker (7-8) was the loser.
Brandon Guyer led the Bulls at the plate with his 13th homer of the season and a two-run double.
“We’re never going to quit,” Bulls manager Charlie Montoyo said. “We’ve got a good bunch of guys, so I’m not surprised with that. But it’s almost been the same song over the last three days. The bullpen struggles and doesn’t do the job.”
The Knights took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on the one-out, two-run homer from Viciedo.
Guyer halved the lead with one out in the bottom of the frame, blasting a 2-2 offering over the Blue Monster wall in left. The rally continued after Stephen Vogt followed walks to Dan Johnson and Russ Canzler followed by a wild pitch with a two-run double to left center to make it 3-2.
But the Knights came back in the top of the fifth. After Baker issued back-to-back two-out walks, Escobar greeted Lance Cormier with a two-run single to put Charlotte up 4-3.
Charlotte then went up 5-3 when Dawkins led off the seventh by launching a 1-2 blast over the Monster. And that led the way to an eight-run inning, the centerpiece of which was Garcia’s one-out opposite-field grand slam over the Monster.
The Bulls made things a little more interesting in the ninth. Canzler singled and Chirinos followed with a homer over the Monster. Then after Wes Whisler loaded the bases on two walks and a hit-by-pitch, Guyer hit his two-run double to complete the scoring.
“It’s definitely one of the positives you can take away from a game like that,” said Canzler, who is far and away the league leader in OPS. “We showed some fight there in the last inning. Even though the last couple of games haven’t gone our way, that’s something that could have a positive effect.”
Game 2 of the four-day, five-game set is Friday night at 7:05, with Andy Sonnanstine (3-4, 3.86) taking on the Knights’ Dylan Axelrod (R, 5-1, 2.50).
Comments