Pawtucket, RI --- Nate Lowe's two-out, pinch single in the eighth inning lifted the Durham Bulls to a 5-4 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox, and a doubleheader sweep on Thursday night at McCoy Stadium.After the Bulls (44-27) saw a 4-1 lead shrink away in the nightcap, Lowe was summoned
Pawtucket, RI --- Nate Lowe's two-out, pinch single in the eighth inning lifted the Durham Bulls to a 5-4 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox, and a doubleheader sweep on Thursday night at McCoy Stadium.
After the Bulls (44-27) saw a 4-1 lead shrink away in the nightcap, Lowe was summoned off the bench after a strikeout and foul out failed to advance Joe McCarthy from second base, placed there in extra innings by rule. Lowe drilled a two-strike, 98mph fastball from Domingo Tapia (L, 0-1) past second baseman Nick Lovullo to bring McCarthy home with the go-ahead run. Hunter Wood (W, 1-0) fanned two and induced a groundout in the bottom half to secure the win, stranding the tying PawSox (30-40) run at second base.
In the opener, claimed by Durham 3-2, Arturo Reyes (W, 5-2) worked six innings, permitting two runs and fanning five to earn the win. Trailing 2-1 in the sixth, the Bulls scored a pair of two-out runs. McCarthy singled down the right field line to score Lowe to pull Durham even 2-2. Jason Coats followed with a double landing on the left field line to give Durham a 3-2 lead.
Ian Gibaut (S, 3) worked the seventh inning to record his third save in three appearances this season.
In game two, the Bulls faced off against Ryan Weber, who was a key member of Durham's Governors Cup championship team in 2018. Weber blanked the Bulls over the first three innings, but the first four hitters reached against him in the fourth before being relieved by Bobby Poyner. Dalton Kelly and Brendan McKay collected RBI-singles, with Dalton Kelly singling home two runs against the Poyner.
With the sweep, the Bulls opened up their largest South Division lead of the season, taking a 5 1/2 game lead over Gwinnett.
The series concludes at 7:05 PM ET on Thursday night with Austin Pruitt expeccted to oppose Pawtucket's Erasmo Ramírez.
