Durham Drops Game 1 in Soggy Scranton

MOOSIC, PA - The Durham Bulls fell to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 3-2 Tuesday night at PNC Field, dropping Game 1 of the best-of-five Governors' Cup Finals in a contest marred by a two hour and 59 minute rain delay.
Durham struck for the game's first run, as the visiting team loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth. Jake Cronenworth then grounded out, scoring Nate Lowe and putting the defending champions ahead 1-0. The RailRiders answered in the bottom of the frame though, scoring a pair on an RBI double by Bruce Caldwell, and another on an RBI single from Ryan McBroom for a 3-1 lead.
The score held until the seventh frame, when former RailRider Rob Refsnyder lifted a solo homer over the left field wall, cutting the Durham deficit to 3-2. In the top of the eighth the Bulls put runners on the corners, but Scranton/WB was able to maneuver out of the jam unscathed. In the bottom of the eighth is when the rain came, halting the game for nearly three hours.
In the top of the ninth Durham got the tying run aboard and lifted a pair of fly outs to the warning track, but couldn't push the tying run across to fall by one run.
Southpaw Justus Sheffield (1-0) earned the victory, tossing three innings in relief of Domingo Germán and allowing one run. Ryan Weber (0-2) took the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits across five innings. RJ Alaniz, Jordan Harrison, Ian Gibaut and Forrest Snow combined for three innings of scoreless relief for the Bulls.
The Bulls and RailRiders meet in Game 2 of the Governors' Cup Finals Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at PNC Field. RHP Austin Pruitt is scheduled to start for Durham opposite LHP Nestor Cortes Jr. for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.