IL1 Syracuse Mets

Chiefs Fall to Bulls, 6-4, After Late Grand Slam

Published on July 28, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Syracuse Mets News Release


Durham, NC - The Syracuse Chiefs fell to the Durham Bulls, 6-4, Saturday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Syracuse led, 2-1, entering the eighth, but Micah Johnson's grand slam gave the Bulls the lead of good. Phillips Valdez was strong on the mound for Syracuse, allowing just one run in five innings.

Durham (60-44) started the scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning. Johnson doubled to start the inning, and moved to third on a groundout. Kean Wong then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score the Bulls first run.

Syracuse (42-63) took the lead in the seventh inning. Bengie Gonzalez singled to right field with one out off Ryan Weber. After the Bulls turned to Ruben Alaniz out of the bullpen, a wild pitch allowed Gonzalez to reach second and Tuffy Gosewisch walked. Another Alaniz wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and then Chris Dominguez grounded out to second, scoring Gonzalez to tie the game. Andrew Stevenson followed and drilled a double just inside the left-field line to plate Gosewisch to give the Chiefs a 2-1 lead.

The Bulls turned loose in the sixth inning after Chris Smith walked Brandon Lowe and Brandon Snyder. After Jose Edgin came into the game, Justin Williams moved the runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. The Chiefs then intentionally walked Christian Arroyo to set up the lefty-on-lefty matchup. With Nick Ciuffo at the plate, Edgin was called for a balk, moving all the runners up and bringing home Lowe from third to tie the score. After a strikeout, the Chiefs again intentionally walked the right-hand hitting Jason Coats, but Johnson followed with a first pitch grand slam over the 32-foot high wall in left field to give Durham a 6-2 lead.

The Chiefs did get two runs back in the ninth inning against Ian Gibaut. Dominguez walked with one out and Stevenson singled. After a strikeout, Alejandro De Aza singled home both runners to trim the deficit to 6-4. But Gibaut got Irving Falu to ground out to end the game.

Syracuse and Durham will play the rubber much of the three-game series Sunday night at 5:05 p.m. RHP Carlos Torres is scheduled to start for the Chiefs. opposite RHP Andrew Moore for the Bulls.

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