The Durham Bulls rally for a 2-1 victory over Rochester.
By Nick Sciarratta and Sean Clarke
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Durham Bulls edged the Rochester Red Wings, 2-1, Friday night before a crowd of 8,395 fans at Frontier Field.
The first four innings of Friday’s game featured a pitchers’ duel between Wings starter Adalberto Mejia and Yonny Chirinos, who started on the mound for the Bulls.
Willians Astudillo put the first run on the board for the Wings with a solo home run off Chirinos, giving the Wings a 1-0 lead. It was the sixth homer of the season for Astudillo.
Durham tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth with an RBI triple from Kean Wong, scoring Michael Russell from first base.
Chirinos’ day was done for the Bulls in the bottom of the sixth, throwing 55 pitches over five innings pitched, 36 of them for strikes, allowing one earned run on four hits while striking out two and walking one.
The Bulls broke the tie in the top of the seventh when Brandon Snyder hit a solo home run off Mejia, putting Durham up 2-1.
Luke Bard came in to pitch for the Wings in the top of the eighth. This ended Mejia’s day as he struck out eight but allowed two runs, both earned, on five hits and one walk, while throwing 95 pitches, 60 of them for strikes.
Bard pitched two innings, striking out two and allowed a hit and a walk.
The Red Wings had the tying run at first in the ninth after a one-out walk by Ian Gibaut, but Gibaut set down the next two batters to end the contest,
The Bulls and Wings each had five hits.
*NOTES — Nick Gordon’s 7-game hit streak ended after he went 0-for-4 Friday…The series continues Saturday at 7:05 pm, with gates opening at 5:30 pm, an appearance by the ZOOperstars, and fireworks after the game.