Lukes Leads Bulls To 11-0 Shutout Win

Lukes goes 4-for-4 with 2 homers, 4 Durham pitchers fire 3-hit shutout

LF Nathan Lukes recorded four hits in four at-bats, including two home runs and a double, in the Bulls' 11-0 victory over Charlotte on Saturday night at the DBAP. (Paxton Rembis / Durham Bulls)

June 12, 2021

Bulls left fielder Nathan Lukes recorded four hits in four at-bats, including two home runs and a double, while Durham starter Luis Patino struck out seven over five scoreless innings in an 11-0 three-hit shutout victory over the Charlotte Knights in front of 7,241 on Saturday evening at Durham Bulls

Bulls left fielder Nathan Lukes recorded four hits in four at-bats, including two home runs and a double, while Durham starter Luis Patino struck out seven over five scoreless innings in an 11-0 three-hit shutout victory over the Charlotte Knights in front of 7,241 on Saturday evening at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The Bulls wasted no time getting their scoring surge started, with Lukes leading off the bottom of the first with his first longball. C Joseph Odom’s two-run single in the second increased the advantage to 3-0 before Lukes three frames later smashed a two-run shot to right to make it 5-0. DH Dalton Kelly’s RBI single in the sixth extended the margin to six before Durham put an exclamation mark on the evening with a five-run seventh highlighted by run-scoring doubles from CF Josh Lowe and RF Ryan Boldt.

Lukes (4-4, 3 R, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB) had entered the evening with just one home run in his first 21 games with the Bulls before going yard twice on Saturday night. It was just the second multi-homer game of his career, with the other occurrence coming on July 16, 2016. Durham 2B Kevin Padlo (2-5, 2 R) and 1B Wyatt Mathisen (2-4, 3 R, 2B, RBI) also posted multi-hit efforts, while SS Wander Franco’s eighth-inning single to left extended his hit streak to ten games.

Patino (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K) after hitting the first batter and yielding a single retired 15 of the other 16 batters he faced to earn his first Triple-A victory. Bulls relievers Phoenix Sanders (2.0 IP, 2 H, 4 K), Brent Honeywell Jr. (1.0 IP) and Joey Krehbiel (1.0 IP, BB) joined forces for the final four shutout innings. Charlotte starter Jonathan Stiever (5.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 7 K) suffered the defeat.

The Bulls are set to conclude their six-game home series versus the Knights on Sunday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 5:05pm. RHP Chris Ellis (0-0, 7.71) is anticipated to get the nod for Durham, while Charlotte expected to send RHP Jimmy Lambert (0-0, 5.51) to toe the rubber. Tickets for that game and all remaining Bulls home games are now available at durhambulls.com.