Rock Dominates Mound, Bulls Win Sixth Straight

Durham, NC – Joe Rock fanned nine over six innings to lead the Durham Bulls to a 10-3 victory over the Gwinnett Stripers at the DBAP on Tuesday night.

Rock (W, 4-2) permitted just two solo home runs across his victory, Durham’s season-high sixth straight win.

Curtis Mead, Tristan Peters and Heriberto Hernandez each clubbed homers for the Bulls (27-31) in the opener of a 12-game homestand.

The Bulls took a 1-0 lead in the first as Mead scored on a passed ball with two outs. Tampa Bay Rays’ rehabbing infielder Taylor Walls delivered a run-scoring single in the third for a 2-0 lead.

Up 2-1 in the fifth, the Bulls started to pull away from Gwinnett (27-31). Ronny Simon doubled to lead off the frame, with Mead driving a two-run shot into the right-centerfield bleachers off of Gwinnett starter Grant Holmes (L, 3-2). Peters and Hernandez each went deep in the sixth against Taylor Widener. Durham scored four times in the seventh to close out the game thanks to a two-run double from Ruben Cardenas and a triple by Peters that produced two more.

Colin Poche, also on a rehab assignment for the Rays, tossed a scoreless seventh inning, with Joe Record and Michael Gomez combining for the final two frames. Record gave up a homer to former Bulls infielder Andrew Velasquez in the eighth while Gomez made his first appearance in nearly three weeks, coming off the injured list to throw a scoreless ninth.

The Bulls continue their six-game set against Gwinnett on Wednesday night at 6:35 PM ET with Nathan Wiles (4-2, 6.41) expected to start against Allan Winans (3-3, 4.43).