PawSox Bats Go Silent, 1-0

The Pawtucket Red Sox could not muster any offense against Durham starter Mitch Talbot, wasting a magnificent pitching performance by Charlie Zink in falling to the Bulls 1-0 last night at McCoy.

Both teams collected four hits apiece. Jeff Bailey upped his batting average to .326 with a pair of singles. CF Fernando Perez had two hits for Durham.

Durham's only run came in the top of the first on back to back doubles to lead off the game by Perez and 2B Elliot Johnson.

Zink (3-2) pitched eight innings, giving up only three hits. He walked one and struck out three on 91 pitches, 67 for strikes. Bryan Corey pitched a scoreless ninth.

Talbot (3-3) threw 95 pitches (64 for strikes) over seven innings of work. He struck out eight PawSox and walked none. Grant Balfour pitched the final two innings, striking out five of the six batters he faced to earn the save.

Game two of the four game series is tonight (6:15pm). Durham RHP Ben Hendrickson (2-2, 2.93) starts for the Bulls against RHP Devern Hansack (0-3, 8.25) for the PawSox.

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