DURHAM, N.C. – The Gwinnett Stripers (7-9) dropped both ends of a doubleheader in Durham, falling 11-2 and 3-2 to the Bulls (6-9) on Saturday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Rafael Ortega, Adam Duvall, and Pedro Florimon all homered in the losses as Gwinnett’s losing streak stretched to five games.
Game 1 Scoring Recap: Ortega (6) blasted his third leadoff home run of the season, taking Ryan Merritt deep to right field for a 1-0 Stripers lead in the first inning. Durham tied the game at 1-1 in the second on an RBI single by Nick Solak, then went ahead 2-1 in the fourth on an RBI double by Solak. Later in the fourth, Dashenko Ricardo (1) launched a three-run homer off Kolby Allard to make it 5-1. In the fifth, the Bulls added six runs on homers by Jake Smolinski (2), Jason Coats (1), and Andrew Velazquez (2) off Jason Creasy to break it open at 11-1. Duvall (1) lifted a solo homer to left off Andrew Kittredge in the sixth to make it 11-2.
Game 2 Scoring Recap: The Stripers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Jack Lopez’s two-out RBI single scoring Ryan LaMarre. Gwinnett raised the lead to 2-0 in the fifth as Florimon (1) lifted a solo home run to center off Mike Franco. Durham scored all three runs in the sixth off Corbin Clouse as Kean Wong hit a two-out, three-run double for a 3-2 Bulls lead.
Stripers Stats: Allard (L, 1-1) allowed five runs on seven hits over 4.0 innings in game one, walking three and striking out four. Elian Leyva and Ben Rowen combined on 5.0 scoreless innings in game two before Clouse (L, 0-1) yielded three runs over 0.2 innings. Ortega went 2-for-3 with a homer and one RBI in game one. Andres Blanco went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles in game two.
Bulls Stats: Merritt (W, 1-1) got the game one win for Durham, yielding a run on five hits over 5.0 innings and striking out four. Hoby Milner (W, 1-0) pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in relief for the win in game two. Smolinksi and Ricardo each went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs in game one. Wong finished 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs in game two.
Postgame Notes: Ortega is the first Gwinnett hitter with three leadoff homers in a season since Ozzie Albies had four in 2017. Duvall’s game one homer extended his team-best on-base streak to 13 games, but he went 0-for-3 to snap the streak in game two. Gwinnett is now 2-5 in games decided by one run this season.
Next Game (Sunday, April 21): Gwinnett at Durham, 5:05 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. RHP Mike Foltynewicz (1-1, 4.38 ERA) for the Stripers vs. TBD for the Bulls. Radio Broadcast: 4:50 p.m. on 97.7 and 93.5 FM “The Other Side of the River.”
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