Montgomery, Bulls Win Finale at Buffalo, 7-1
Buffalo, NY --- Mike Montgomery pitched seven strong innings while the Durham Bulls broke out of a series-long slump in beating Buffalo 7-1 on Monday night.
Montgomery (W, 4-1) matched a season-high by throwing seven frames, allowing just one run on six hits as the Bulls (48-30) avoided a four-game sweep to Buffalo, and increased their South Division lead to eight games.
The Bulls scored twice in the third inning on singles by Jason Bourgeois and Vince Belnome to take an initial 2-0 lead against Ricky Romero (L, 0-2), then pushed five across in the fourth. Romero walked two in the fourth, then Romero and Claudio Vargas permitted three extra base hits. Cole Figueroa pulled a two-run double to right, followed by Brandon Guyer ground-rule double to right. Tim Beckham tripled to center to cap the inning.
Jeff Beliveau pitched two scoreless innings to punctuate the victory.
Durham went 5-7 with runners in scoring position.
Merrill Kelly starts the series opener against Lehigh Valley on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM ET.