Colome Shines In Victorious Debut
The fifth ranked prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays system entering the 2012 season, Colome put his stuff on display at the DBAP in his first Bulls start. He tossed six shutout innings, allowing just two hits, while walking four and striking out four. The Dominican native commanded all of his pitches, with his fastball reaching as high as 97 MPH. Unfortunately Colome did not receive a decision in his Bulls debut, as the game would be determined by each team's bullpen.
Despite Colome's dominance, Durham's offense could not touch Gwinnett veteran Miguel Batista in his second start for the G-Braves. The 41 year old was brilliant in his own right, holding the Bulls scoreless for five innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five.
It was not until Batista was lifted that the Bulls offense would come to life, scoring four runs off of reliever Buddy Carlyle (L, 5-4, 3.12) in the bottom of the seventh. Jesus Feliciano led off the rally notching his second of three singles on the night, followed by a base hit from Tim Beckham. That set the table for Vogt, who broke the scoreless contest with a bases clearing triple off the top of the right centerfield wall. Vogt then scored himself on a Leslie Anderson single up the middle. Chris Gimenez added the fourth run of the frame with an RBI double off of the Blue Monster.
Adam Liberatore (W, 1-0, 0.00) kept his perfect ERA intact, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. Frank De Los Santos entered the game in the eighth with a comfortable 4-0 lead, but the lefty reliever allowed two walks before giving up a mammoth home run to Ernesto Mejia. Mejia's 3-run blast ended the Bulls pitching staff's 25 inning scoreless streak.
The Bulls scored an insurance run in the bottom of the following frame to give the team a 5-3 lead. Peter Moylan struck out the first two batters, but then gave up three straight singles, including Vogt's third hit and RBI of the night. Vogt finished the contest going 3-for-4 with a triple, run scored and collected three RBI.
Dane De La Rosa would shut the Braves down with a perfect 1-2-3 ninth, earning his 14th save of the season. Rehabbing Rays third baseman Evan Longoria was 0-for-4 in the game, with a walk and strikeout. The 2008 American League Rookie of the Year stranded five men on base.
The Braves and Bulls return to the DBAP for game three of the four game series on Saturday night at 7:05pm. The 2011 International League Pitcher of the Year, RHP Julio Teheran (6-5, 5.16), is slated to go for the Braves against RHP Matt Torra (8-6, 4.33).