Bulls run past Tides Thursday

The Durham Bulls plated a run in each of the first four innings and cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Norfolk Tides in front of a Durham Bulls Athletic Park record 11,754 fans Thursday night.

Tides starter Jair Jurrjens (5-6) found himself in trouble from the outset as the Bulls took a 1-0 lead after the opening inning on a Vince Belnome RBI single. The damage could have been much worse as Durham had a runner thrown out at the plate on a nice relay from right fielder Henry Urrutia and second baseman Buck Britton to catcher Luis Exposito.

The Bulls used three doubles in the second and third innings to plate three runs and extend their lead to 4-0 on Jurrjens. Shelley Duncan's sacrifice fly in the fourth gave Durham a 5-0 lead. Jurrjens' night was over after allowing five runs on nine hits and three walks in four innings.

Bulls starter J.D. Martin (10-4) was impressive, retiring 12 in a row at one point before Yamaico Navarro's fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth, put Norfolk on the board. Martin finished his night by allowing a single run on five hits with four strikeouts in 6.1 innings while matching the league-high with his 10th win of the season.

Luis Exposito would add a solo home run in the eighth inning for the Tides and Norfolk's Chris Jones continued a run of impressive outings as the left-hander allowed just two hits in three shutout innings in relief.

The Bulls added an unearned run off of Manny Delcarmen in the ninth inning to cap the scoring.

Norfolk and Durham will wrap up a brief two-game series Friday night as the Tides send left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada (1-3, 5.74) opposite Bulls right-hander Jake Odorizzi (6-1, 3.23). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Durham Bulls Athletic Park.