Matt Torra, Pen Lead Bulls Past Tides 5-1
The Bulls (21-29) opened a 10-game road trip by taking their second straight from the Tides (20-28) and moving into a third place tie with Norfolk in the South.
Torra (W, 4-5) extended his scoreless streak to 11 innings by blanking the Tides on six hits, while stranding eight baserunners. Alex Torres, Romulo Sanchez and Brandon Gomes combined to allow just one run over the final four innings, fanning eight hitters.
Leading 2-0 in the fourth and just 5-17 on the road, the Bulls caught some good fortune at Harbor Park. With the bases loaded and two outs, Jai Miller, mired in a 0-35 slump, hit a sharp grounder up the middle, but Torra was able to get his glove on the ball, redirecting it toward second baseman Shawn O'Malley, who fielded and tossed to Reid Brignac to get the force out and exit the inning.
After the Tides got on the board with a run against Torres in the sixth, the Bulls pushed the lead back to 3-1 on a two-out single by Jesus Feliciano that nearly drilled Jeff Salazar running to third base on the 3-2 pitch. Durham tacked on two runs in the ninth thanks to a pair of errors.
The Bulls took their initial lead in the third inning that was built by a single to right by Salazar and a bunt hit by O'Malley. After a sacrifice, Matt Mangini fanned before Anderson delivered his two run single to center.
Henry Wrigley had two of the Bulls nine hits, while O'Malley reached base all four times, with a bunt single and three walks.
Lance Pendleton (1-1, 3.58) starts the finale of the home-and-home series on Sunday afternoon against Jason Berken (0-1, 2.50) at 1:15 PM ET.