Wang, RailRiders Snap Bulls Season-High Streak

The first place Durham Bulls saw their season-high five game winning streak come to an end with a 9-1 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday at the DBAP. Jake Odorizzi suffered his first Triple-A loss of the season in front of a paid crowd of 9,093.

Odorizzi (L, 4-1, 4.01) returned to the Bulls rotation after earning no decisions in two starts in Tampa Bay. His first game back with Durham saw an end to his undefeated season in the International League. He gave up 8 hits and 4 runs, 3 earned, in 4.2 innings. It was the shortest outing and most hits allowed in his time as a Bull.

Zolio Almonte homered in the first to give Scranton the early lead, and Melky Mesa then hit a two-run shot off of Odorizzi in the third. The RailRiders broke the game open with a four-run seventh, highlighted by a bases-loaded 2-run double by Addison Maruszak.

At the plate, the Bulls struggled to mount any offense against former Yankees' 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang (W, 4-4, 2.33), who entered the game third in the league in ERA and shaved .32 runs off his ERA with 7 shutout innings.

The Bulls managed just six hits against Wang and failed to score in the first inning for the first time in six games. The Bulls had seven hits in the game, three by Brandon Guyer. When the Bulls did get runners on base, they were just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and lined into two double plays in the game.

The sixth inning ended with a wild play and some heroics by Craig Albernaz. The Bulls catcher blocked an Adam Liberatore pitch in the dirt and threw to second as Melky Mesa advanced on the wild pitch. Second baseman Cole Figueroa held the ball at second, and turned his back on the infield. Thomas Neal attempted to score from third. Figueroa threw home and Neal bowled over Albernaz, who not only managed to hold the ball, but threw to third to catch Mesa trying to advance for an inning-ending double play.

Albernaz stayed in the game and even pitched a one-two-three ninth inning that included a swinging strikeout of former Bull and former IL MVP Dan Johnson. 

The series continues at 5:05pm on Sunday at the DBAP. LHP Mike Montgomery (1-0, 5.27) pitches for Durham against Scranton's RHP Brett Marshall (2-3, 6.81).