Rays/Durham Farm Report: Bulls head to Toledo after losing rubber-match vs. Columbus

TOLEDO, Ohio – The Bulls head to Toledo to take on the Mud Hens, Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, in the second leg of their two-city, week-long road trip. The Bulls are coming off a series loss in Columbus, including a lop-sided, 8-0 defeat in the rubber match last night. Toledo meanwhile got off to a rough start on their six-game homestand after suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of the Gwinnett Braves. The Bulls and Mud Hens have played one previous series this season, with Durham winning two of three from Toledo at the DBAP May 12-14.

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LAST NIGHT: The Durham Bulls were held in check by Columbus Clippers’ starter Shawn Morimando Thursday night, as the left-hander threw his first career nine-inning complete game to hand the Bulls an 8-0 loss at Huntington Park. Morimando (5-5) needed just 103 pitches to get through all nine innings, as the 24-year-old limited Durham to five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. The Clippers offense meanwhile struck for three home runs, including a three-run blast in the first inning by Chris Colabello against Durham starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough (L, 5-4). Still leading 3-0 in the sixth, former Bulls third baseman Richie Shaffer cranked out his league-tying 14th homer for a 4-0 advantage. Later in the inning, reliever Diego Castillo surrendered a three-run shot to Todd Hankins as the Clippers took a 7-0 lead.

LAST MINUTE REPLACEMENT BURNS BULLS: RHP Adam Plutko was originally supposed to start for Columbus Thursday night, but was scratched late and replaced by LHP Shawn Morimando. The move couldn’t have worked out better for the Clippers, with Morimando tossing a 9-inning, complete game shutout. The dominant outing was a dramatic 180 for Morimando compared to his previous start against the Bulls on May 8, in which he was knocked out after only four innings after giving up eight runs on nine hits.

THE SHUTOUT-ERS BECOME THE SHUTOUT-EES: One night after the Bulls twirled their seventh shutout of the season on Wednesday the Clippers returned the favor Thursday, with the home team tossing their sixth blanking of the year. The back-to-back shutouts marked the first time this season the Bulls were involved in cosecutive games without a run scored for one team.

MORE DEJA VU: The inverse similarities between Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games continue in the home run category as well, as Columbus clubbed three round trippers last night after Durham accomplished the feat the previous evening. It was Johnny Field, Shane Peterson, and Mike Marjama going deep for the Bulls in game two of the series, while Chris Colabello, Richie Shaffer, and Todd Hankins crushed bombs for the Clippers in game three. The three-homer games tied the season high for both the most home runs hit and the most homers allowed by the Bulls in a single game this season.

BIG NIGHT FOR BRETT: Thursday was a rough night at the plate for almost every Bull batter save for Ryan Brett, who finished 2-3 with two doubles in the defeat. The game was easily the best performance for Brett as a Bull this season, marking his first multi-hit game with Durham and his first game with multiple extra-base hits overall. The injury-prone middle infielder has struggled to stay on the field this season, with Brett spending two seperate stints on the DL while playing in only 14 games combined between Charlotte (A+) and Durham.

SHOWDOWN IN THE WEST: The Bulls have had their way with most teams this season while composing a 40-25 record that stands as the top mark in the South Division and the second best recrod in the International League. One place Durham has hit a speed bump however has been with the West Division, with the Bulls’ record standing at 8-8. A major reason for that .500 record is Durham’s 2-5 mark against Columbus, but the Bulls are also just one game over against both Toledo (2-1) and Louisville (2-1). Outside the West Division, the Bulls are 32-17, including a 21-9 mark in their own South Division.

A ROUGH NIGHT (SORT OF) FOR YARBOROUGH: LHP Ryan Yarbrough suffered through arguably his worst outing of the season Thursday, as he allowed a season-high six earned runs on five hits, two homers, over 5.2 innings pitched. The game marked the first start in more than a month for the southpaw that didn’t last at least six innings, while it also tied his season-low for strikeouts with three.

BATTLE FOR JUNE SUPREMACY: By winning two out of three games in their sreies against the Bulls Columbus jumped past Durham for the best record in the IL in June at 9-4, a half game better than the Bulls’ 9-5 start.

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BULLS STARTING PITCHER - LHP BLAKE SNELL (4-0, 2.53) *ON 40-MAN*

GS: 5 // QS: 2 // Team Record: 4-1
Longest Scoreless: 9.0 (6/5 - 6/10)
vs. RHP: .250 // vs. LHP: .241
Home: 3.0, 2.04 // Road: 1-0, 3.14

LAST TIME OUT: Threw a career-best eight innings while allowing one run on five hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts while earning the win in Charlotte on 6/5.

TIME IN TAMPA: Made his 2017 Bulls debut, and struck out 12 batters over 5.1 innings while allowing 1 R on 7 H. 2016: Went 3-5 witha 3.29 ERA in 12 GS totaling 63 IP with Durham...posted a 90/28 K/BB ratio and a .234 BAA.

RING RING: Was called up for a his major league debut in a spot start for Tampa Bay on 4/23 at New York (AL), then called up for the rest of the season on 6/16.

LASTING FINAL IMPRESSION: Struck out a career-high 13 batters in his final start for the Bulls, breaking his previous career-high for a single game of 12 from 2015 with Montgomery.

STRIKEOUTS AND A MILESTONE: Reached 500 MiLB strikeouts on 5/10 vs. Buffalo with 2 strikeouts in the first inning, then added 5 more in that game... Had at least 1 SO/IP in 10-of-11 starts this season... His 90 SO were 1st in the IL and 2nd in MiLB at the time of his promotion... His 12.86 SO/9 IP led the IL.

2015 WITH DURHAM: Allowed 1 ER or fewer in 8-of-9 GS... From the time of his first Triple-A start (7/24) through the end of the season, led IL in opponent's average (.187), ranked 2nd in wins (6), ERA (1.83) and strikeouts (57).

BEST OF THE BEST: Named Baseball America's and USA Today's 2015 Minor League Player of the Year, the third Durham Bulls player to be named the Player of the Year by both publications in the same season (Jeremy Hellickson in 2010 and Andruw Jones in 1996)... Named Tampa Bay's Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the second straight season.

2015 OVERALL: COmbined to go 15-4, 1.41 in 25 G, 23 GS between Advanced-A Charlotte, Double-A Montgomery and Durham, the lowest ERA of any minor league pitcher (min. 115 IP) since Justin Verlander's 1.29 ERA in 2005... 1.41 ERA was lowest in Tampa Bay's minor league history (min. 130 IP)... Led all full-season minor leaguers in ERA (1.41) and opponent's average (.182), ranked T-3rd in wins (15) and strikeouts (163), 9th in WHIP (1.02)... His team went 21-4 in games that he pitched (19-4 when he started).

OTHER ACCOLADES: Named to the 2015 US Futures Team... Named to the MLB Pipeline 2015 All-Star team... Named a 2015 Southern League Midseason and Postseason All-Star.