Cedric Mullins homered to help pace Norfolk's 12-hit attack, but the Durham Bulls outlasted the Tides 9-5 Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.
Cedric Mullins homered to help pace Norfolk's 12-hit attack, but the Durham Bulls outlasted the Tides 9-5 Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.
Mullins singled, stole second and scored a run in the first inning, then added a solo homer in the ninth inning to cap his afternoon. The homer was his third since he re-joined the Tides from Baltimore on April 27th, and he's posted a .327 on-base percentage with six stolen bases and 16 runs scored in 23 games over that span.
DJ Stewart reached base safely four times in the contest, as he added a single, double and two walks. Stewart is now batting .472 (25-53) with five home runs, 25 RBI, eight walks and a .523 on-base percentage through 16 games in May. He's registered more walks (27) than strikeouts (24) this year and leads the Tides with a .420 OBP.
Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander both added multi-hit games, while Chance Sisco and Anderson Feliz each added a hit and a run batted in.
Luis Ortiz (1-4) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits over four innings of work. Ortiz walked one and struck out two, throwing 53 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He surrendered a solo homer to Christian Arroyo in the second frame, then yielded an RBI single to Nick Ciuffo and a two-run double to Jason Coats during a four-run fourth inning.
Mike Brosseau had an RBI double and a two-run homer off of Evan Phillips to help pace Durham's 12-hit attack, while Mike Franco (4-0) earned the victory with 2.2 shutout innings of relief.
With the win, the Bulls completed a three-game series sweep of the Tides and improved their record to a league-best 28-17. Durham has won six consecutive series and has gone 14-3 over its last 17 games.
The Tides will take to the road on Friday as they kick off a four-game series in Gwinnett against the Stripers. Josh Rogers (2-3, 6.87) is slated to get the start for Norfolk and will be opposed by right-hander Kyle Wright (3-2, 7.57), with first pitch set for 7:05.
Notes: Durham second baseman Nick Solak walked four times in the contest…Ryan Mountcastle's multi-hit game was the 19th he's registered this season…Sean Gilmartin allowed three runs over 1.2 innings of relief, snapping a 12.0-inning stretch in which he had not allowed an earned run…Norfolk leads the league with a .313 average with runners in scoring position, but the Tides batted just .138 (4-29) with RISP during the series.
