Charlotte homers help sink Durham Bulls
Kevan Smith and Matt Tuiasosopo hit early homers and accounted for seven runs to lift first-place Charlotte past Durham 7-4 Tuesday night at BB&T BallPark. Durham fell a season-high six games behind the Knights.
After a Hak-Ju Lee single scored Richie Shaffer in the Durham (49-47) second for a 1-0 lead, Smith drilled a fastball from Everett Teaford (4-7) for a three-run shot in the bottom half. Tuiasosopo hit his third grand slam of the season, connecting on reliever Jim Miller’s first pitch in the third.
Nick Franklin homered in the fourth and Taylor Motter connected in the fifth to close Durham’s deficit to 7-4, but but Charlotte pitchers combined to retire 13 of the final 14 hitters.
Teaford, making his first start since June 29, worked 21/3 innings, allowing five hits and six runs. Brad Penny (5-3) pitched six innings, allowing four hits and four runs, his 11th straight start without suffering a loss.
Bradin Hagens (1-1, 4.26 ERA) will start Game 3 of the series at 7:05 Wednesday night against Scott Carroll (3-2, 2.06).
Tuesday’s box score
Durham | ab | r | h | bi |
Powell, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Brett, 2B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Motter, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Arencibia, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shaffer, 3B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Brown, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Franklin, DH | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Lee, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Wilson, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 31 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Charlotte | ab | r | h | bi |
Johnson, 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Garcia, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Coats, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Davidson, 3B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Tuiasosopo, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Thompson, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Marrero, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Smith, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Colvin, DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 33 | 7 | 9 | 7 |
Durham | 010 | 120 | 000 | — | 4 | 5 | 2 |
Charlotte | 034 | 000 | 00X | — | 7 | 9 | 0 |
E — Brett, Lee. DP– Durham 1, Charlotte 1. LOB– Durham 4, Charlotte 6. 2B– Powell. HR—Franklin (5), Motter (9), Smith (5), Tuiasosopo (11). CS—Garcia. PO— Garcia.
DurhamIP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Teaford (L,4-7) | 21/3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
Miller | 12/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Romero | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Marinez | 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Riefenhauser | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
CharlotteIP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Penny (W, 5-3) | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Smith | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Phillips (S,8) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Charlotte homers help sink Durham Bulls."