Bulls drop second in a row in first homestand of August

DURHAM, N.C. — The Nashville Sounds defeated the Durham Bulls 9-2 in the second matchup of their six-game series on Wednesday evening.

Durham has now lost four of their last games despite being first in the International League East. While this shouldn’t be a cause for concern, the struggles of the bullpen should be highlighted.

The Bulls bullpen gave up 11 hits and walked nine batters as RHP Luis Patiño received the loss on the night. In just four innings pitched, Patiño struggled giving up six runs and six hits while walking four batters.

Despite a second-inning run scored by Sounds 3B Patrick Dorrian from a Joey Wiemer RBI, the first three innings were relatively uneventful. At the top of the fourth, Wiemer crushed a grand slam to left field, giving the Sounds a 5-0 lead. Nashville would later take a 6-0 lead following Sal Frelick scoring a run off a sacrifice fly-out.

Durham got on the board in the bottom of the fourth after OF Josh Lowe homered to center field. Lowe also provided another solo home run in the seventh which gave them their second and final run of the game.

In the top of the seventh, Dorrian drilled a three-run homer to right field to give Nashville a 9-1 lead to that point. Sounds RHP Josh Limblom recorded his sixth win of the season after striking out seven batters and giving up only two hits in six innings on the mound.

The Bulls look to turn things around as they continue their series with Nashville tomorrow at 6:35 PM in Durham Bulls Athletic Park.