Bulls Fall to Tides 10-6

Bulls catcher Deivy Grullon hammered two home runs and shortstop Wander Franco extended his hit streak to 14 games in Durham’s 10-6 defeat to the Norfolk Tides on Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.

Grullon’s homer in the second got the scoring started, and an RBI off the bat of first baseman Dalton Kelly scored right fielder Ryan Boldt to extend Durham’s lead to 2-0 in the fourth. The Tides evened the tally in the fifth with a two-run home run off the bat of CF Ryan McKenna.

The Bulls added three more runs in the seventh, after CF Nathan Lukes singled and scored LF Brett Sullivan. After Franco’s two-run single, the Tides exploded for a five-run rally in the seventh, highlighted by a go-ahead two-run homer off the bat of LF Tyler Nevin, giving the Tides a 7-5 lead.

Grullon went deep again in the eighth to make it 7-6, however Norfolk slammed the door shut after a three-run shot by third baseman *Domingo Leyba *extended the Tides.

Bulls starter Joe Ryan (5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 4 K) did not factor in the decision, while David Hess *(1.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 ER) suffered the loss. Norfolk reliever *Eric Hanhold (1.2 IP, H, R, ER) notched his first win of the season.

The two teams are scheduled to continue their series on Friday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm ET. RHP Drew Strotman (4-2, 4.91) is expected to toe the rubber for the Bulls, while the Tides are anticipated to give the ball to LHP Zac Lowther (0-2, 5.28).

The Bulls are scheduled to return to Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Tuesday, June 29 to start a six-game series with the Gwinnett Stripers. First pitch of that game is slated for​ 6:35pm. Tickets for that game and all remaining 2021 home games are available at durhambulls.com