Although Tuesday nights are usually quiet in Durham, 7,014 fans packed into Durham Bulls Athletic Park to see the final regular-season home game and made plenty of noise. But the Bulls’ bats could not match the din of the crowd, as Durham fell to Richmond 3-2.
Despite the loss, with six games left in their season the Bulls (74-64) did not lose any ground in the wild card race. In winning the series, the Braves (74-58) stretched their division lead over the Durham to three games.
“That’s playoff baseball,” Braves manager Pat Kelly said. “These are probably the two best teams in the league. We saw three outstanding games in this series and we were fortunate to walk away with two of them.”
The Bulls had their chances, especially early in the game, but the Braves got on the board first. In the fourth inning center fielder Ryan Langerhans hit a solo shot to deep right, his 18th home run of the season.
Richmond continued to put the pressure on Durham starter Doug Waechter, a Tampa Bay Devil Ray pitching in a rehab start.
The next three runners reached base on two hard-hit singles and a walk. And with the bases loaded, right fielder Damon Hollins hit a sacrifice fly to the wall in right, knocking in Luis Lopez for the second run.
After fouling off numerous pitches, the next batter, J.C. Boscan, blooped an RBI single in front of Bulls center fielder Joey Gathright to knock in the eventual winning run from third.
Durham finally got on the board in the 5th when Matt Diaz singled home Gathright from second. The Bulls, however, failed to tack on another run, as Midre Cummings, second on the team in RBIs, popped out to first to end the inning, stranding runners on first and second.
Then in the sixth, left fielder Jonny Gomes led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on Paul Hoover’s broken-bat single. The Bulls scored their second run, pulling within one, on a weak RBI groundout by catcher Keith Osik that scored Gomes. But this was the end of the scoring for Durham.
The Braves bullpen shut down the Bulls over the final three innings, preventing any Durham runner from getting past second base. Durham’s best opportunity came in the seventh with the tying run on second and one out, with the heart of the lineup coming up. Diaz and Cummings, however, both struck out swinging against Braves reliever Kevin Barry to end the inning.
Barry then retired the side in order in the eighth, and the Braves called on all-star reliever Matt Whiteside in the ninth, who recorded his league-leading 38th save. Whiteside retired the first two he faced, and, after being knocked down by a Gathright single up the middle, he struck out pinch hitter Jared Sandberg on three pitches to end the game.
“It’s nice knowing you got [Whiteside],” Kelly said. “As a team, we know if we can get the lead and hand it over to Whiteside in the ninth, we’ve got a pretty good chance.”
The Bulls relievers were equally impressive, allowing one hit and one walk over five shutout innings.
One of Durham’s best scoring chances came in the opening innings when in the third, Gathright and second baseman Brooks Badeaux led off the frame with singles and Diaz and Cummings were on deck. The rally ended quickly, though, as International League post-season all-star and team MVP Matt Diaz struck out on a breaking ball in the dirt. Braves catcher J.C. Boscan then threw out Gathright trying to steal third, and cleanup hitter Midre Cummings popped out weakly to 2nd base, ending the rally.
“They made some good pitches when they had to. They’re a good ball club, we’re a good ball club. That’s what it’s going to come down to,” Bulls Manager Bill Evers said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.