Bulls Fall In Columbus; Two-Game Win Streak Halted

Columbus, OH --- TJ McFarland pitched seven strong innings to notch his 14th win of the season, leading the Columbus Clippers past the Durham Bulls 7-1 at Huntington Park on Thursday night.

After scoring seven in the eighth inning last night to surprise the Clippers with a 9-7 win, the Bulls could not duplicate the late-game magic on Thursday.

Lance Pendleton (L, 7-5), who had not lost a game in over a month, surrendered a season-high three homers and 10 hits over his five innings to absorb the loss. With the Bulls leading 1-0, Gregorio Petit tied the game with a solo homer. Then the Clippers went back-to-back in the third with Cord Phelps connecting for a three-run homer, followed by former Bull Russ Canzler homering to left-center to give Columbus a 5-1 edge.

The Bulls, however, did take a 1-0 lead against McFarland in the second inning when Brooks Conrad singled home Chris Gimenez in the second inning.

Phelps went 4-5 with five runs batted in, and now has eight hits in his last nine at-bats with nine RBI over the past two games.

The Clippers added a run in the fifth, then added an insurance run in the eighth against reliever Adam Liberatore.

Meanwhile, McFarland worked seven innings, permitting six hits and just one walk to earn his sixth Triple-A game of the season.

Ryan Reid threw two scoreless innings, fanning three. Will Rhymes and Conrad had two hits apiece to lead the Bulls offense.

Chris Archer opposes Matt Packer on Friday night at 7:05 PM ET in the road trip finale for the Bulls.