Patrick Kinas has spent the last four summers following the Durham Bulls around the International League. This month, however, he’s charting his own course — to Brazil.
Kinas was chosen as an announcer for swimming and other events at the 2016 Summer Olympics for Westwood One radio.
“Having the chance to broadcast the Olympic Games has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid, and one no one wanted to see me pass up,” he said in a statement. “The Bulls will be in very good hands while I’m gone.”
While Kinas misses 22 consecutive Bulls games, the team has arranged a rotating cast of other local announcers and personalities, including soon-to-retire Duke announcer Bob Harris, to fill in for him.
Walk-off propels Robertson to career day
With the Bulls and Toledo Mud Hens seemingly playing an endless stalemate into the middle of Tuesday night, shortstop Daniel Robertson finally broke a tie in the bottom of the 14th inning with a walkoff single that gave Durham a long-awaited 5-4 win.
With batting practice cancelled before Wednesday’s series finale, Robertson was clearly able to maintain his rhythm from the night before. The 22-year-old erupted for four hits on four at-bats, including a double in the fifth inning and an RBI single in a four-run sixth, to up his season batting average from .250 to .259 in a single night.
The Bulls won, 5-2, to finish off a sweep.
Mudcats struggling to bat in runners
One of the biggest reasons behind the Carolina Mudcats’ 2016 struggles — which, as of Friday, have them dwelling in the Carolina League basement at 41-63 — has been a stark inability to drive in runners on base.
With runners in scoring position, the Mudcats’ .232 team batting average is the worst in the league. With runners in scoring position and two outs, that average drops to an even more dismal .199.
For the season as a whole, the team is batting .249.
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