Bulls Win Third Straight, Beat Gwinnett 5-1
Montgomery Improves To 2-0
Lawrenceville, GA --- Ray Olmedo delivered a tie-breaking, two-out single in the fifth inning to lead the Durham Bulls to their third straight win, spoiling the home opener of the Gwinnett Braves 5-1 on Friday night.
Olmedo's hard grounder into left field scored Ali Solis, who had one of three Bulls triples in the game. That hit saved helped the Bulls avoid squandering Solis' leadoff triple, just his seventh of his career. After Solis' drive to right, a strikeout and tap to first base with the Braves infield in kept the game tied 1-1 before Olmedo's single put the Bulls ahead 2-1.
Mikie Mahtook tripled home Jerry Sands in the second inning to give Durham (6-3) a 1-0 advantage, then Justin Christian smoked a triple high off of the left field wall, leading to a three-run frame to put the game away.
Mike Montgomery (W, 2-0) threw five innings of three-hit ball to become the first two-game winner on the Bulls staff. Jeff Beliveau, CJ Riefenhauser and Kirby Yates combined to shutout the Braves on two hits the rest of the way.
Bulls pitchers fanned 10 more hitters, and retired 20 of the last 22 Gwinnett (4-4) batters in the game.
The series continues on Saturday night at 7:05 PM ET with Merrill Kelly (1-0, 0.00) opposing Gwinnett RH Mitch Atkins (0-1, 6.75).