STAFF REPORTS
Bulls righty Jose Mujica set the tone and the Durham offense supported their starter in a 5-1 victory over the Bisons on Tuesday night from Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Mujica struck out six and carried a shutout into the seventh inning to deal the Herd its third consecutive defeat.
An undrafted free agent of the Rays since 2012, Mujica dominated in his best career performance at Triple-A. He retired the first nine batters he faced, using exactly 10 pitches in the first, second and third innings to blank the Bisons in their first trip through the order.
In the fourth, Mujica fanned Rowdy Tellez and retired Danny Jansen on a pop out to strand runners at first and third base. The righty then allowed just three more base runners, erasing one of them with an inning-ending doubleplay in the sixth.
Having just reached Triple-A this season, Tuesday’s outing was the first time Mujica has thrown more than five innings at this level.
Offensively, Durham got four hits out of their catcher Curt Casali, including RBI singles in the third and eighth innings. The Bulls first got to Herd starter Chris Rowley in the third by loading the bases on a Jake Bauer double and walks by Willy Adames and Brandon Snyder. Rowley hoped to limit the damage after getting Jason Coats to hit into a run-scoring doubleplay, but Casali came through with a grounder into left field to double the Bulls rally.
Trailing 5-0, the Bisons finally got on the board in their final trip to the plate. After a walk by Dwight Smith Jr. and a single from Danny Espinosa, Darnell Sweeney singled into centerfield to produce the Herd’s lone run.
Buffalo closes out their roadtrip with a Wednesday morning start in Durham. First pitch is at 10:35 a.m.
BISONS NOTES:
Tim Lopes singled in his last at-bat of the night to extend his season-opening hit streak to eight games. He went into action Tuesday night with the International League’s best average (now .444)…Danny Espinosa added two hits and now has four multi-hit performances in his last eight games…Chris Rowley finished his night with two runs allowed in four innings to fall to 1-1 on the season.
Tim Lopes singled in his last at-bat of the night to extend his season-opening hit streak to eight games. He went into action Tuesday night with the International League’s best average (now .444)…Danny Espinosa added two hits and now has four multi-hit performances in his last eight games…Chris Rowley finished his night with two runs allowed in four innings to fall to 1-1 on the season.
