Bulls take down 1st-place Tide in 11th
Joey Butler batted home two runs in the 11th to lead Durham past first-place Norfolk 6-5 Tuesday night at Harbor Park.
After the Bulls (65-66) lost a two-run lead, Durham strung three hits together to start the 11th against former Bulls reliever Andy Oliver. Taylor Motter looped a single inside the left field line before Richie Shaffer doubled against the left field wall on three hops, moving Motter to third. Butler sliced a two-run double into the right field corner to reclaim a 5-3 lead. Two hitters later, Hak-Ju Lee hit a sacrifice fly to bring Butler home for a 6-3 advantage.
Michael Almanzar drilled a two-run homer off of winning pitcher Kirby Yates to draw the Tides (73-57) to within 6-5, but Yates closed out the game, stranding the tying run on first.
Durham's sixth straight win pulled the surging Bulls to 81/2 behind first place Norfolk in the South with 13 to play, holding the elimination number against the Bulls at 6.
With the game tied 1-1 in the sixth, Shaffer and Butler hit consecutive doubles for a 2-1 lead, then a single to center by Jake Elmore bumped the lead to 3-1.
After Blake Snell was removed after five innings, Andrew Bellatti gave up a run in the sixth and seventh. Snell allowed one run on five hits and fanned three in his no-decision.
The Bulls quick road trip concludes Wednesday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. with Bradin Hagens opposing Chris Jones.
Tuesday’s box score
Durham | AB | R | H | RBI |
Mahtook, LF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Powell, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Franklin, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Motter, RF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Shaffer, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Butler, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Elmore, 3B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Lee, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Maile, C | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 41 | 6 | 10 | 6 |
Norfolk | AB | R | H | RBI |
Lough, LF | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Navarro, SS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Walker, RF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Alvarez, RF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Perez, C | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Halton, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Gibson, PR-DH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Almanzar, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Borbon, CF | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Schoop, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Totals | 44 | 5 | 12 | 5 |
Durham | 001 | 002 | 000 | 03 | — | 6 | 10 | 1 |
Norfolk | 010 | 001 | 100 | 02 | — | 5 | 12 | 0 |
E — Franklin DP– Norfolk 1. LOB–Durham 6, Norfolk 8. 2B–Powell, Shaffer 2, Butler 2, Halton 2, Walker. HR—Almanzar (4). SB–Lough (1), Halton (3). CS—Alvarez. PO— Snell
DurhamIP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Snell | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Bellatti (BS, 2) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Miller | 11/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Riefenhauser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Yates (W, 1-2) | 12/3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
NorfolkIP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Doyle | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Johnson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Drake | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Oliver (L, 4-2) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Bulls take down 1st-place Tide in 11th."