Motter's Slam Drives Bulls Over Rochester In 10

Rochester, NY --- Taylor Motter drilled a grand slam in the 10th inning as part of a five-run frame to lead Durham past Rochester 9-5 in the series opener on Monday night at Frontier Field.

The Bulls (43-54) had just taken a 5-4 lead on an infield single by Jake Hager before pounding a pitch from Buddy Boshers (L, 1-1) over the left field wall to give Durham a 9-4 advantage.

Durham was pushed to extra innings after the Red Wings (56-41) tied the game in the last of the ninth on a two-run single by Jorge Polanco.

The Bulls optimized a first inning gift after Daniel Palka dropped a two-out flyball in right field to score the first run of the game. Casey Gillaspie and Dayron Varona followed with run-scoring doubles to hand Austin Pruitt a 3-0 lead before he took the mound.

Of the nine runs scored by Durham, eight were unearned. As the top-ranked defense in the league, the Red Wings committed a key error in the first and 10th inning.

Ryan Garton (W, 2-0) was credited with the win in relief. Pruitt worked six innings of one-run ball to earn a no-decision.

With the victory, the Bulls won three straight road games for the first time this season. The Bulls maintained pace with first place Charlotte, trailing the South Division leader by one game.

Eddie Gamboa starts the middle game of the series on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM ET.