Big first inning leads Lehigh Valley past Durham
The Durham Bulls (51-43) fell 4-3 to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (52-42) to open a six-game set on Tuesday evening at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Lehigh Valley would strike first as CF Mickey Moniak led off the contest with a solo shot. Later in the inning, C Donny Sands would
The Durham Bulls (51-43) fell 4-3 to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (52-42) to open a six-game set on Tuesday evening at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Lehigh Valley would strike first as CF Mickey Moniak led off the contest with a solo shot. Later in the inning, C Donny Sands would cross the plate on a Bulls fielding error and RF Justin Williams lined a two-run single on the next at-bat, to round out the four-run inning. In the bottom half of the frame, Bulls DH Ruben Cardenas tattooed an RBI single,while in the bottom of the third, 3B Jonathan Aranda lifted a sacrifice fly to cut the IronPigs lead to 4-2.
Durham would mount a comeback effort in the ninth, as SS Tristan Gray cut the Bulls deficit to one by connecting on an RBI single. The Bulls would then load the bases and put the tying run at third, however were unable to erase the deficit any further.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Jacob Hernandez earned the win, while Durham starting pitcher Joe Weiland picked up the loss. The Bulls relief staff of Dalton Moats, Chris Criswell, Angel Perdomo, Zack Erwin, Calvin Faucher and Dusten Knight, meanwhile, combined for 8.1 scoreless innings while ringing up 11 strikeouts.
The Bulls are set to continue their nine-game homestand on Wednesday evening for game two of their series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35pm. RHP Tommy Romero is slated to toe the rubber for Durham and be opposed by Cristopher Sanchez for Lehigh Valley.
Tickets for that game and all remaining 2022 home games are still available and can be purchased at DurhamBulls.com.