Syracuse Sinks Durham, 15-8
Trailing 10-2, Matt Mangini hit a grand slam against reliever Austin Bibens-Dirkx, then the Bulls (12-22) reloaded the bases in the eight before Jesus Feliciano doubled into left-center to pull Durham within 10-8.
However, the Chiefs (12-21) scored five against reliever Jhonny Nunez in the bottom of the eighth to pull away to their second win in three games in the series.
Alex Cobb (L, 1-4) lasted 1 2/3 innings before being taken down due to an illness. Durham took a 1-0 lead in the first after Feliciano doubled and was singled in by Stephen Vogt. Cobb permitted a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a pair of hits and two errors.
Syracuse scored five times in the second against Cobb before he left the game, sparked by a three-run double by Brett Carroll.
Trailing 8-1 in the fifth, the Bulls hustled their way to a run thanks to an infield single by Kyle Hudson and a RBI-double by Cole Figueroa to slice the deficit to 8-2.
Josh Lueke permitted one run over 2 1/3 innings, with Romulo Sanchez tossing two scoreless innings. In the seventh, John Gaub issued five walks, forcing in two runs as the Chiefs went ahead 10-2. Nunez gave up four of his five runs with two outs in the eighth.
Feliciano went 4-5 for the Bulls with a pair of doubles. Mangini went 2-4 with the Bulls first grand slam since Tim Beckham's grand slam against Buffalo last August.
Matt Torra (2-3, 5.45) starts the series finale Tanner Roark (1-5, 5.70) at 7:00 PM ET. The Bulls open a four-game series on Friday in Rochester, NY against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.