Pitching Sparks Bulls Past Tides, 2-1

Norfolk, VA --- Dylan Floro, Enny Romero and Kirby Yates combined on a 2-1 Durham victory over Norfolk before a sellout Saturday night crowd.

Floro (W, 9-9) became the third International League pitcher with nine victories, working five innings to earn the win before 12,516 fans at Harbor Park. 

Durham (51-50) nosed ahead of Chris Jones (L, 6-5) with single runs in the first two innings. JP Arencibia singled home Ryan Brett in the first, then in the second Boog Powell safety squeezed Hak-Ju Lee home from third for a 2-0 lead.

After Floro limited damage in the third inning to just one Norfolk run on a sac fly by Henry Urrutia, Romero powered through three scoreless innings to maintain the lead. Romero benefited from two double play grounders to set up the finish for Kirby Yates (S, 4) with Durham leading 2-1.

The Tides' (58-42) ninth inning saw plenty of drama against Yates, who allowed a single to Sean Halton to begin the inning. After a deep lineout to left, Audry Perez blooped a single over a leaping Lee at short, then Sharlon Schoop flared a single to right to fill the bases. But Yates blew a fastball past Urrutia for a strikeout, then induced a grounder into the second base hole by Rey Navarro, which was handled by Nick Franklin for the final out of the game.

With the victory, the Bulls closed to within 7 1/2 of first place, and 2-5 on its current 11-game road trip.

The series with the Tides concludes on Sunday night at 6:10 PM ET with Drew Smyly making a major league rehab start for the Bulls against Mike Wright (7-0, 2.66).