Bulls Win Third Straight in Scranton
Durham Pulls To Within 1 In South
Moosic, PA --- Wil Myers homered for the second time in three days, leading JD Martin to his league-best sixth win as Durham drilled Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 11-6 at PNC Field on Saturday night.
After spotting the RailRiders (21-26) a 1-0 lead after on, the Bulls (30-19) scored five in the third, batting around against Caleb Cotham (L, 0-3). Cotham walked the first three hitters to hand the Bulls a huge opportunity. Vince Belnome singled in a run, Shelley Duncan drove an opposite-field single, with two errors factoring in as the Bulls went up 5-1.
Martin (W, 6-2) gave two back to the RailRiders in the bottom half on a Ronnier Mustelier homer and Melky Mesa RBI-double to shrink the lead to 5-3. But Durham's offense, which has scored 28 runs in three games against Scranton rose again in the fourth.
Tim Beckham singled and Cole Figueroa walked to start the fourth, and after a sacrifice, Beckham scurried home after Rich Thompson hit a comebacker to the mound, then broke for home after the throw to first base from Cotham. Jason Bourgeois stroked a single to center to plate a run, followed by a run-scoring double by Belnome against reliever Dillan Betances for an 8-3 lead.
The Bulls added two more in the fifth on a single by Cole Figueroa, then Myers homered in the sixth to cap Durham's scoring for an 11-3 lead.
Martin worked five innings, allowing seven hits and two walks, striking out five.
The Bulls received eight walks in the game, with six scoring. Belnome went 2-5, extending his hitting streak to 15 straight after a single in the third inning.
With the victory, the Bulls moved to within one of South Division-leading Norfolk. The Bulls trailed by four games three days ago, but three Bulls wins and three Tides losses at Lehigh Valley has tightened the divisional race.
Chris Archer (4-2, 4.00) starts the road trip finale against Chris Bootcheck (4-0, 2.80) at 1:05 PM ET.