Rochester continues to struggle to win at home with its 9th straight loss.
By Nick Sciarratta and Sean Clarke
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Durham Bulls beat the Rochester Red Wings 6-1 Sunday afternoon before 7,240 fans at Frontier Field, sweeping the 3-game series.
After two scoreless innings, Durham put the first run on the board in the top of the third after Wings starter Zack Littell walked Brandon Snyder with the bases loaded, scoring Micah Johnson and giving the Bulls a 1-0 lead.
Durham extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning with a 3-RBI double from Andrew Velazquez.
The Wings got their first run of the day in the fourth inning, when Wynston Sawyer hit a sacrifice fly to center field off Bulls starter Chih-Wei Hu. The sac fly scored LaMonte Wade from third to make the score 4-1.
Tyler Duffey took the mound for the Wings in the top of the fifth, meaning Littell’s day was over after 4.0 innings pitched having thrown 86 pitches, 48 of them for strikes, and giving up 4 runs, all earned, on 5 hits and 4 walks while striking out 3 hitters.
Colin Poche came on in relief in the sixth inning for the Bulls, ending Hu’s day. Hu struck out 2 on 70 pitches, 42 for strikes, while giving up only 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks.
Durham added 2 more runs to their lead in the top of the seventh after a fielding error allowed Nick Ciuffo to score, and a single by Micah Johnson off of Nick Anderson brought Jeremy Hazelbaker home to put the Bulls up 6-1.
Alan Busenitz set down all 6 batters he faced in relief, all on ground outs.
*NOTES — OF LaMonte Wade singled in the fourth inning for his first Triple-A hit. He also walked twice Sunday, his second game since being promoted from Double-A Chattanooga…The Wings will return home on Tuesday, June 19 for a 6-game homestand that includes an appearance by former Bills kicker Scott Norwood, and Batman Night with “Gotham” star David Mazouz.