Bulls win, 7-2
Published on July 9, 2010 under International League (IL1)
Durham Bulls News Release
Durham, NC - The Bulls bottled up the Norfolk bats until it was too late as they completed their sweep of the Tides 7-2 on Friday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Virgil Vasquez earned his fourth win of the season, while Dan Johnson added his league leading 24th home run of the season as the Bulls improve to a league best 54-34 on the season.
Durham added single tallies in the second and fourth innings to take an early 2-0 lead off Tides right-hander Tim Bascom. In the second inning, a walk to Joe Dillon and a single by Chris Richard put men at the corners with one out. Dioner Navarro brought home Dillon with a sacrifice fly to put the Bulls on the board. In the fourth inning, it was a solo shot by Johnson deep into the Diamond View II seats in right field to make it a 2-0 Bulls lead.
They would add three more in the fifth, chasing Bascom from the game after just 4.1 innings of work. Desmond Jennings brought home a run with an RBI double, and would score on an RBI single by Elliot Johnson. Justin Ruggiano singled to put runners at first and second, and a grounder off the bat of Dan Johnson skipped off the glove of first baseman Nolan Reimold and into right field allowing Elliot Johnson to score.
Alvin Colina added an RBI single in the seventh, while Dan Johnson brought home the final run for the Bulls on an RBI double to score Desmond Jennings in the bottom of the eighth.
Elliot Johnson finished the night 3-for-5 for Durham, and has seven hits in his last nine at-bats. Jennings, Dan Johnson and Chris Richard also had multi-hit games for the Bulls, who have won four of their last five games and 11 of their last 15 overall.
Six runs proved to be more than enough for Vasquez, who allowed six hits and did not walk a batter while striking out three in 6.2 innings of work. The Bulls right-hander improves to 4-0 on the season, and has now won two of his first three starts since returning from a wrist injury on June 29.
Dale Thayer came on in relief of Vasquez with a pair of runners on in the seventh, allowing a single to Matt Angle before getting out of the inning and working a scoreless eighth inning. The Tides prevented the shutout with a pair of homers in the ninth inning, as Paco Figueroa and Blake Davis had back-to-back solo homers off Darin Downs. Winston Abreu came on to record the final two outs, extending his scoreless streak to 18.1 innings in the process.
The Bulls travel to Norfolk tomorrow to complete the final two games of their four-game set with the Tides. RHP Brian Baker (7-0 2.50) takes the mound in his first start since June 26, he will be matched up against LHP Chris George (4-3 4.17) for Norfolk.
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