RailRiders win fourth straight in Durham on Saturday night
A five-run outburst in the fifth inning Saturday night enabled the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to defeat the Durham Bulls, 8-1, at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
T.J. Rumfield and Jose Rojas each had three hits to lead the way for the first-place RailRiders (17-8), who have won four straight since dropping the six-game series opener Tuesday. In those four games, the RailRiders have outscored the Bulls, 34-6.
For the fifth time in as many games this series, the RailRiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead. In the first three games, they scored twice in the top of the second inning. On Friday, they scored twice in the top of the first.
On Saturday, they waited until the top of the fourth to score their first two runs. Rumfield led off with a double and, one out later, Jeter Downs hit a home run off the famous "Hit Bull Win Steak" sign in left field, although visiting players aren't eligible for the prize. Nevertheless, it was Downs' fourth home run of the season and second of the series.
Then came the decisive top of the fifth inning.
Singles by Luis Gonzalez, Brandon Lockridge and Caleb Durbin started things. After Everson Pereira struck out, Rumfield doubled to score Gonzalez and Lockridge and send Durbin to third. Luis Torrens reached on a fielder's choice when Durbin was out at the plate trying to score on a ground ball to shortstop.
After Torrens was wild-pitched to second, Downs walked to reload the bases. Rojas cleared them with a double down the right-field line to make it 7-0.
Durham got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Jonny DeLuca hit a one-out double, moved to third on a fly-out by Kameron Misner and scored on a balk by RailRiders starter Cody Poteet.
The RailRiders scored their final run in the top of the eighth. Kevin Smith and Gonzalez singled with one out and Durbin had a two-out RBI single to score Smith.
Poteet went six innings to pick up the win and improve to 2-0. He allowed one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts, throwing 89 pitches (53 strikes).The RailRiders are 4-0 this season in games which Poteet has started.
Phil Bickford, Cody Morris and Yerry De Los Santos each threw a scoreless inning of relief to close out the victory.
Bulls starter Jacob Waguespack was tagged with the loss, giving up seven runs on eight hits in 4⅔ innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.
The series wraps up Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Righthander Yoendrys Gomez (0-0, 2.92) is scheduled to start for the RailRiders.
