NEWS RELEASE -(Columbus, OH) Aneury Rodriguez was able to keep the Bulls in striking distance, but Columbus now leads the Governors’ Cup Finals 2-0 after a 4-0 win on Wednesday. The series now heads to Durham.
Cord Phelps hit a two-out homer in the first off Rodriguez for a 1-0 Columbus lead. Rodriguez kept Columbus at bay until the fourth when Jared Goedert and Jerad Head homered on back-to-back pitches for a 3-0 advantage. Columbus tacked on another run on a potential strike-him-out throw-him-out double play, scoring a run on a Jose Constanza double steal of home.
Mike Ekstrom, just optioned from the Tampa Bay Rays, followed with three innings of one-hit baseball, striking out three, but Durham couldn’t get on the board against a Columbus team that posted its second post-season shutout.
Zach McAllister (1-0) threw seven shutout innings before giving way to Zach Putnam and Vinnie Pestano. Durham didn’t get a runner to third base until the seventh, when Angel Chavez lined into a double play with runners at the corners. The Bulls outhit Columbus 8-7, but had just one extra-base hit, a Craig Albernaz double. Albernaz, Leslie Anderson and J.J. Furmaniak had two hits apiece.
Durham came back from a 2-1 deficit and won its last series over Louisville, something the Bulls had never done in Triple-A. Now the Bulls will have to bounce back from a 2-0 deficit to win a second straight Governors’ Cup. The Bulls were outscored 23-5 in the two games in Columbus.
Remaining games will be in Durham. RHP Alex Cobb faces fellow righty Yohan Pino on Thursday at 7:05 at the DBAP.
It's the way things go in the minor leagues but the Bulls were hit hard by late-season promotions to the majors – including leading hitter Dan Johnson and leading pitcher Jeremy Hellickson – while Columbus was not.