Durham Erupts Late; Downs Iron Pigs, 10-6
A five-run eighth inning lifted the Durham Bulls past the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 10-6 on a soggy Thursday night at Coca Cola Park. Trailing 6-5, Dominic Smith drew a four-pitch walk from Taylor Lehman to lead off the inning before Jackson punished a 3-2 pitch for a 426-foot home
A five-run eighth inning lifted the Durham Bulls past the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 10-6 on a soggy Thursday night at Coca Cola Park.
Trailing 6-5, Dominic Smith drew a four-pitch walk from Taylor Lehman to lead off the inning before Jackson punished a 3-2 pitch for a 426-foot home run to hand Durham (5-7) a 7-6 lead. The Bulls added three more in the frame thanks to an RBI-single by Ruben Cardenas, a double from Rob Brantly that brought in another, and a wild pitch later in the inning that brought Brantly home.
Manny Rodriguez and Enmanuel Mejia combined for two perfect innings to close out the game that was played in 20mph winds and swirling rain most of the night.
After a David Dahl homer in the second staked the Iron Pigs (4-5) to a 1-0 lead, Durham scored four times in the third for the lead. Tristan Peters singled to open the frame, followed by a walk to Kameron Misner. Peters stole third, then scored as Misner swiped second base a few pitches later. After two strikeouts, an error scored Misner ahead of a two-run home run by Ronny Simon.
The Iron Pigs scored a run in the third, then reclaimed the lead in the fifth on a three-run shot by Darick Hall. Durham drew even in the sixth as Cardenas scored from third when CJ Hinojosa broke for second base with two outs and drew a throw. Hinojosa remained in the rundown long enough to allow Cardenas to touch home plate before Hinojosa was tagged out.
Brantly and Cardenas each had three hits, with Jackson powering his fourth home run of the series. Jackson hit three in Tuesday’s blowout 28-10 win.
Justin Sterner opened for the Bulls, working two innings in the first start of his professional career after 107 relief appearances.
The fourth game of the series against Lehigh Valley tees off Friday night at 7:05 PM ET. Jacob Lopez (2-0, 2.70) is slated to oppose Tyler Phillips (0-1, 6.52).
Tickets for Durham’s next home game on Tuesday, April 23rd against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and all 2024 Durham Bulls home contests are available and can be purchased online at DurhamBulls.com.