Bulls Staff Stymies PawSox Again, 3-0

Five Durham pitchers limited the PawSox to three hits as the Bulls shut-out Pawtucket for the second straight game, 3-0 tonight at McCoy. It's the first back-to-back losses suffered by the PawSox since the 2006 season.

The Bulls pitching staff had a perfect game going until Jeff Bailey singled to begin the bottom of the seventh. The other hits for Pawtucket came on a single by Keith Ginter in the eighth and a double by Joe Thurston in the ninth. Thurston's double was the first extra base hit for the PawSox this series.

It was the second straight game that the PawSox could not reward a strong pitching performance by their starter. Davern Hansack (0-4) worked 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run on two hits. He walked one and struck out three.

The first Durham run again came in the top of the first on a double by Fernando Perez and a sacrifce fly by Justin Ruggiano.

Jon Switzer came in to suurender a solo home run to Dan Johnson in the seventh.

Lincoln Holdzkom struggled once again, giving up a single to Elliot Johnson, who then advanced to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch and scored on a single by Chris Richard.

Durham starter Ben Hendrickson was forced to leave the game after the first inning due to shoulder stiffness. Nick DeBarr (2-0) came in to pitch the next four innings in hitless and scoreless fashion to pick-up the win. Scott Munter, Dale Thayer, and Grant Balfour secured the shutout for the Bulls. Balfour picked-up his fourth save.

Joel Guzman led the offensive charge for the Bulls collecting two of the team's six hits.

The PawSox look to rebound tomorrow night (6:15pm) as Kevin Lynn (0-1) goes for Durham against Kyle Snyder (0-1) for the PawSox.

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