Lowe Hits 4 RBIs, Bulls Defeat Norfolk

DURHAM, NC – Tampa Bay Rays prospect Josh Lowe hit a 2-run home run in the 2nd inning to give the Durham Bulls offense a spark that led to a 9-2 victory over the Norfolk Tides at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The Bulls (80-62, 1st place IL East) cruised to their fifth consecutive victory by using 13 hits to get the job done on Tuesday.

The Norfolk Tides initially got on the board, thanks to a homer from ECU product – 2B Connor Dorby, when he hit one straight to center field, as the Tides were up 1-0 during the First Inning. Then, during the bottom of the first, the Durham Bulls got on board, thanks to Josh Lowe singling on a line drive to left field, while RF Miles Mastrobuoni scored on a run to tie it at one apiece at the conclusion of the first inning.

It was the bottom of the second inning when the Bulls exploded on offense. Thanks to homers from C Joe Hudson (who recorded an RBI in the process as CF Grant Witherspoon scored) and RF Josh Lowe blasting a home run to center field (as 2B Vidal Brujan scored on Lowe’s RBI), to make it 5-1 in favor of the Durham Bulls at the conclusion of the second inning.

The next two innings saw the Bulls score one run each, thanks to MiLB home run leader Tristan Gray blasting a league-leading 31st home run  over the right field fence in the third inning and RF Josh Lowe recording an RBI, when Miles Mastrobuoni scored. By the conclusion of the fourth inning, the Bulls were on top, 6-1.

The sixth inning saw the Durham Bulls add another two runs, thanks to scores by Yunsiel Diaz and Josh Lowe – from RBI’s by Bligh Madris. During the conclusion of the sixth, the score was 8-1 in favor of the Bulls.

The Tides made their first run since at the top of the first inning when RF Yusniel Diaz blasted a homer – on a line drive to center field to score their second and final run of the game.

For Durham, Josh Fleming picked up the victory. Fleming pitched in three innings, allowing two hits, walking a batter, and recording three strikeouts with a 3.02 ERA. Other pitchers for Durham were starter Yonny Chirinos (who pitched three innings, allowing three hits and one run, committing an error, walked two batters, recorded three strikeouts, and allowed a home run with an ERA of 3.00), Chris Muller (who pitched one inning, allowed one hit and one run, committed one error and allowed one run with an ERA of 5.27), Jeremy Walker (pitched one inning and allowed two hits with a 6.38 ERA) and Cristofer Ogando (pitched one inning, allowed one hit and allowed one walk with a 4.56 ERA).

For Norfolk, Ryan Conroy picked up the loss by pitching 1.2 innings, allowing four hits and five runs, committing four errors, walking three batters, striking out two batters, and allowing two runs, with a 5.66 ERA. Other batters for the Tides were Rico Garcia (2.1 innings pitched, with four hits allowed, two runs allowed, two errors committed, one batter walked, struck out two batters, and allowed one home run with a 2.34 ERA), Morgan McSweeney (one inning pitched, one batter walked, two strikeouts recorded with a 4.21 ERA), Logan Gillaspie (one inning pitched, three hits and two runs allowed, committed two errors and recorded a strikeout with a 4.98 ERA), Blaine Knight (one inning pitched, one hit allowed, two batters walked, three batters struck out with a 6.81 ERA) and Anthony Castro (one inning pitched with one hit and three strikeouts with a 3.63 ERA).

Tomorrow Night, the Bulls face the Tides in the second game of a six-game homestand, the final one for the Bulls. The game will be at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park at 6:35 PM. The final series for the Durham Bulls will be from September 26-28, in a three-game road trip against the Charlotte Knights. The Durham Bulls are currently 80-62, in first place in the Triple-A International League East.