Luis Patino Heading in the Right Direction for Bulls

DURHAM NC – Luis Painto enjoyed a successful second start with the Durham Bulls (20-9). Resulting in a 4-3 victory over the Norfolk Tides (10-18) on Sunday afternoon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Patino experienced some hiccups during his first start versus the Tides, where he lasted just 1 1/3 innings and surrendered five hits, four earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout.

He looked like a different pitcher on the bump on Sunday, pitching 4 strong one-run innings punching out five along the way. He continued to show excellent command, not issuing a single free pass and threw first-pitch strikes to 10 out of the 15 batters he faced. He needed 56 pitches to get through four frames of work and threw 39 out of his 56 pitches for strikes. The lone run he gave up came in the top half of the second from a Brett Cumberland solo blast to right field. Following the homer, he retired nine out of the final 10 Tides to conclude his day, including four strikeouts and three weak groundballs.

Manager Brady Williams continues to be cautious with his prized possession in Patino and has eased him in during his first two starts with the club. His upper 90’s fastball to mix with the combination of off-speed pitches made it difficult for the Tides lineup to get anything going all afternoon long. Expect his pitch count to increase the more starts he logs in. Patino entered the season as MLB Pipeline’s 16th overall prospect and has all the intangibles to be a promising pitcher in this league. The ups will come with the downs, just with any young prospect, but as long as Patino can throw strikes as he has, everything else will fall into place.

The outing was an incredibly encouraging sign, and it bodes well for a Bulls squad that has pitched exceptionally well throughout the first 29 games of 2021. They currently have the second-best team ERA in the Triple-A East division with a 3.59 and are ranked second in opposing batting average at .214. Adding Patino to the mix, who will continue to up his workload and improve weekly, screams trouble for the rest of the division.