Bulls Earn Win in Back-And-Forth Battle

DURHAM, NC - Two late runs propelled the Durham Bulls to a 6-4 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Sunday evening at the DBAP in the second game of the four-game set.

Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Wilson Betemit led off with a double for the Bulls. After a groundout and a walk advanced him to third, Mike Fontenot hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Betemit and giving the Bulls a one-run advantage. In the eighth Durham tacked on an insurance run, as Hak-Ju Lee walked, advanced to second base on another walk and came around to score on an opposite-field single from Jerry Sands for a 6-4 lead.

RHP Kirby Yates then entered in the ninth inning and nailed down his eighth save in as many chances this season, retiring the side in order as the Bulls (17-8) won their second straight.

Scranton/WB (10-12) opened the scoring in the second when former Bull Russ Canzler hit a leadoff dinger. Sands answered in the bottom of the frame though, cranking his sixth homer of the season over the left field wall to lead off the inning and tie the ballgame.

The RailRiders came right back with a pair in the third though, as Zoilo Almonte hit a two-run homer to left-center for a 3-1 lead.

The score remained that way until the fifth, when the Bulls took the lead with a trio of runs behind five hits, a walk and an error for a 4-3 advantage. The visitors tied the contest in the top of the seventh, before Durham plated the contest's final two runs.

LHP CJ Riefenhauser (1-0) earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of relief, while RHP Jim Miller (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing a run to score in the seventh inning. RHP Merrill Kelly earned a no-decision for Durham, failing to win his fifth consecutive outing after turning in six innings of three-run ball.

The teams continue their four-game set Monday when RHP Nathan Karns (2-2, 8.02) takes the mound for Durham against RHP Alfredo Aceves (0-0, 0.00). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.