Hu Leads Bulls Through Norfolk, 12-1

Norfolk, VA --- Chih-Wei Hu allowed one run over eight-plus innings as first place Durham bombed second place Norfolk 12-1 in the opener of a four-game set on Thursday night at Harbor Park.
Hu (W, 3-6) worked two batters into the ninth inning, his longest outing of his professional career, before being relieved. Hu tossed 100 pitches, and only allowed a run in the third inning that tied the game at the time. Hu scattered nine hits, issued no walks and fanned four en route to his third win of the season.
Meanwhile, Durham's offense exploded in the middle innings against Norfolk starter Tim Melville (L, 5-6) and reliever Andrew Faulkner. With the game tied 1-1 in the fifth, Jeremy Hazelbaker swatted an opposite field home run nestled inside the left field foul pole to give Durham (44-34) a 2-1 lead. Kean Wong and Rob Refsnyder followed with doubles, and two batters later Brandon Snyder singled home Refsnyder to put the Bulls ahead 4-1.
In the sixth, the Bulls sent 11 batters to the plate, knocking out Melville after a leadoff double by Nick Ciuffo and a two out run-scoring single by Michael Russell. Faulkner relieved and proceeded to allow the next six batters to reach, including a three-run homer to Ciuffo as Durham raced to a 12-1 lead.
Andrew Kittredge relieved Hu in the ninth and stranded Hu's two baserunners.
Brandon Lowe drilled another home run, his seventh in nine games, on the first pitch of his first inning at-bat against Melville.
In one of Hu's previous 78 starts, he worked eight innings, on August 30, 2016 while pitching for the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits.
With the victory, the South-leading Bulls opened up a 2 1/2 game lead over the Tides (41-36).
The second game of the four game series is Friday night at 7:05 PM ET. Ryan Weber will oppose Norfolk's Matt Wotherspoon.