Jacob Lopez worked six innings leading to a three-hit shutout, while Bob Seymour homered in his third straight game as the Durham Bulls claimed their fifth straight win, 3-0 over the Charlotte Knights on Thursday night at Truist Field.

Lopez (W, 3-4), coming off of a career-high 11 strikeout performance on Friday, permitted just one hit over six frames to notch the win. The only hit allowed by Lopez was a 75mph bloop single by Zach DeLoach in the fourth inning.  The six innings marked his longest outing of the season.

Richard Lovelady, Kyle Whitten and Justin Sterner (S, 2) combined for the final three innings to close out Durham’s fourth shutout win of the campaign.

With the game deadlocked at 0-0 in the fifth, Jake Mangum grounded a single to centerfield with one out against Sean Burke (L, 0-3), his first of three hits in the game. Seymour followed by driving a 1-0 pitch over the left-centerfield wall for his fourth home run in nine Triple-A games, and his third homer in his last three games.

In the seventh, the Bulls (9-6) tacked on another run it their lead over the Knights (5-8). Austin Shenton singled to start the inning, followed by an opposite-field line double from Mangum landing six feet inside the right field line to score Shenton from first base. 

With Durham’s fifth straight victory, the Bulls have climbed out of a hole 10-games under .500 at 20-30 and 21-31, to reach .500 for the entirety of the season at 45-45. The Bulls are now 9-6 in the second half, sitting in third place, just three games behind first place Rochester (12-3). 

The fourth game of the six-game series is scheduled for 7:04 PM ET on Friday with Mason Mongomery (0-5, 6.30) slated to start against the Knights.

Durham returns home on Tuesday, July 23rd against the Gwinnett Stripers.

Source: wralsportsfan.com