Trio of Stripers' Homers Topple Durham

DURHAM, NC - The Gwinnett Stripers, on the strength of three home runs, beat the Durham Bulls by an 8-5 score Saturday night in game three of the four-game series at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Danny Santana homered twice (10-11), tallying three RBIs and Michael Reed added a solo blast (2) as Gwinnett improved to 4-2 on the road trip.

The Bulls got on the board first with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning off Stripers starter Lucas Sims. Brandon Lowe led off with a double to right and moved to third on a single by Jeremy Hazelbaker. A throwing error by catcher Chris Stewart as Hazelbaker was stealing second enabled Lowe to score for a 1-0 Durham lead.
But that lead quickly evaporated in the top of the third as Stewart reached on an error and Santana followed with a long single off the wall in left to put runners on first and second. Rio Ruiz drilled a double to right off Durham starting pitcher Chih-Wei-Hu, scoring Stewart and Santana to give the Stripers a 2-1 lead. Ruiz moved to third on a single by Carlos Franco and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Phil Gosselin to push the lead to 3-1.
The lead went to 4-1 in the top of the fourth when Santana hit a two-out solo homer to right off Hu. An inning later, Reed followed Santana's lead with a solo homer to make it 5-1.
Sims was cruising along until the bottom of the fifth, when with two outs and no one on, the Bulls erupted for three runs to cut the lead to 5-4. However, with the bases loaded, the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second, Sims got Andrew Velazquez to ground out to first base to end the threat.
In the top of the sixth, with reliever Mike Franco now pitching for Durham, Stewart stroked a one-out single to center and Santana followed with his second homer of the game, a long two-run clout to right to push the lead to 7-4.
Stripers reliever David Peterson ran into big trouble in the bottom of the seventh. Kean Wong led off with a single to right and headed to third on a single to center by Justin Williams. The throw to third by Santana ended up in the Gwinnett dugout, enabling Wong to score to make it a 7-5 game. Ji-Man Choi dropped a single to center and Peterson hit Lowe with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. However, Peterson pitched out of the big jam by striking out Velazquez, getting Hazelbaker to ground into a force play at home and coaxing Nick Ciuffo into an inning-ending ground out.
Jason Hursh also had to pitch out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth. With two on and one out, Williams singled to center, but a nice relay throw from Santana to Franco to Stewart cut down Kevin Kiermaier at the plate. Hursh then struck out Choi to end the inning.
The last run of the night came in the top of the ninth as Durham reliever Hunter Wood walked Ruiz and threw a wild pitch to move him to second. Gosselin shot a two-out single to center, scoring Ruiz for an 8-5 final.
Sims (W, 4-2) went 5.2 innings with eight hits, four runs (three earned), three walks and a season-high eight strikeouts. Peterson (H, 3) worked 1.1 innings with three hits, one earned run and one strikeout. Hursh (H, 2) tossed 1.0 inning with two hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Evan Phillips (S, 6) allowed one hit and struck out two in the ninth and is now 6-for-6 in save opportunities this season.
For Durham, Hu (L, 2-6) went 5.0 innings with six hits, five runs (three earned), two walks and five strikeouts. Franco and Wood combined to allow three runs over 4.0 innings in relief.
Offensively for Gwinnett, Santana was 3-for-5 with the two homers, three runs scored and three RBIs. Ruiz and Gosselin each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Reed went 1-for-5 with the homer and one RBI and has now reached base safely in 14 of 15 games with the Stripers.
Durham was led by Williams who was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Kiermaier went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Choi went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The Gwinnett Stripers (30-36) conclude the seven-game road trip on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Right-hander Wes Parsons (1-1, 3.47 ERA) will start for Gwinnett, while Durham (37-29) will start right-hander Andrew Moore (1-1, 4.00 ERA). Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 and 93.5 FM The Other Side of the River beginning at 4:35 p.m.