Gwinnett's Flande Stymies Bulls in 6-2 Loss

Lawrenceville, GA --- A six-run third inning keyed the Gwinnett Braves past the Durham Bulls for the second straight game 6-2 at Coolray Field on Wednesday night.

The Braves (54-72) sent 10 hitters to the plate in the frame against Bulls starter Mike Montgomery (L, 7-6). Jose Constanza reached on a one-out infield single, then scored on a triple into the right field corner by Todd Cunningham. A sacrifice fly from Brandon Boggs made it 2-0. With two outs, the next five Braves reached, with Joe Leonard singling home two runs. Jose Yepez followed with a two-run double to make it 6-0.

Yohan Flande (W, 8-7) limited the Bulls to a Craig Albernaz single in the second inning over the first six innings. 

Trailing 6-0 in the seventh, the Bulls (76-49) broke through with a pair of unearned runs against Flande. Leslie Anderson reached on an error, then Shelley Duncan doubled Anderson to third. Kevin Kiermaier singled to right field to score the first Bulls run. A grounder by Albernaz scored Durham's second run.

The Bulls night ended in the eighth, when after a pair of walks, Anderson's liner was grabbed on a leap by first baseman Ernesto Mejia. Vince Belnome was doubled off of second base.

Durham mustered just three hits in the loss. Montgomery allowed nine hits over four innings, surrendering six earned runs in taking the loss. 

The Bulls continue their series at Gwinnett on Thursday night with Merrill Kelly (6-3) starting against Sean Gilmartin at 6:05 PM ET. 

Bulls game story brought to you by Strayer University, Bringing Home the Bulls in September.