Offense paces Bulls past Mud Hens
The Durham Bulls snapped a three-game losing streak Wednesday morning, beating the Toledo Mud Hens 5-3 at Fifth Third Field.
After the Mud Hens (19-25) scored the game’s first run in the first inning, Durham tied the score in the fourth when Dayron Varona hit his fifth homer of the season.
The Bulls (19-28) took the lead during the fifth when Nick Franklin doubled home Jaff Decker. Richie Shaffer then cracked a two-run homer to put the visitors in front by three.
Toledo scored twice in the sixth on Chad Huffman’s double to make it a one-run game. Durham, however, countered with a run in the ninth, though, when Decker’s double scored Cameron Seitzer.
Justin Marks (2-4) earned the win by tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, scattering seven hits and striking out three. Dylan Floro earned his first save since 2012 with a scoreless ninth. Drake Britton (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing three runs to score in one inning of relief.
Decker, Franklin, Varona and Daniel Robertson all finished with two hits for the Bulls in their 11-hit attack, with five of those hits going for extra bases.
The teams will square off in the series final at 10:35 a.m. Thursday. Left-hander Blake Snell (2-3, 3.29 ERA) will start for the Bulls against left-hander Matt Boyd (1-3, 2.06).
Wednesday’s box score
Durham | ab | r | h | bi |
Decker, CF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Robertson, SS | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Franklin, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Shaffer, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Roller, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Varona, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Arencibia, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Seitzer, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Leonard, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 38 | 5 | 11 | 5 |
Toledo | ab | r | h | bi |
Machado, SS | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Gose, CF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Huffman, 1B | 5 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
McGehee, 3B | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Collins, LF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Gonzalez, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Gonzalez, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Krizan, DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bernard, RF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 35 | 3 | 9 | 3 |
Durham | 000 | 130 | 001 | — | 5 | 11 | 1 |
Toledo | 100 | 002 | 000 | — | 3 | 9 | 0 |
E — Seitzer. DP–Durham 2, Toledo 0. LOB–Durham 6, Toledo 11. 2B–Varona, Franklin, Decker, McGehee, Huffman. HR—Varona (5), Shaffer (4). SF–xx. SB–Decker2 (11).
Durham IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Marks (W, 2-4) | 5 1/3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Wagner | 1/3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Sappington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Kolarek | 2 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Floro (S, 1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Toledo IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
Greene | 3 1/3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
VerHagen | 2/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Britton (L, 0-2) | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
Guilmet | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kensing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Parnell | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rondon | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "Offense paces Bulls past Mud Hens."