Durham erupts for seven in seventh, rallies past Norfolk 7-4

Durham did not just climb back Friday night. It detonated in the seventh inning.

Down 4-0 entering the frame at Harbor Park, the Bulls sent 11 batters to the plate against three Norfolk relievers and poured across seven runs to flip the game into a 7-4 comeback win. What had looked like a clean night for the Tides turned into a statement response from a Durham club that needed one huge inning and got exactly that.

Brody Hopkins set up the turnaround by giving Durham five hitless innings, the kind of stabilizing start that keeps a road game alive even when the offense is quiet. The outing mattered well beyond the final line. MLB coverage has labeled Hopkins the Rays’ No. 2 prospect, and after a rough April that carried a 5.32 ERA, this was another sign his May surge is real. When a young arm that highly regarded can blank an opponent through five, it changes the tone of the whole roster.

Norfolk had built its early cushion behind Heston Kjerstad, who extended his hitting streak to five games with an RBI double and later scored on a Sam Huff hit. That pushed the Tides into a 2-0 lead before Durham started to chip away, but the Bulls never needed a full-game avalanche. They just needed one inning with traffic, contact and enough poise to keep the line moving, and the seventh supplied all of it.

Chris Kachmar, who signed a minor league contract earlier Friday, gave Norfolk a scoreless 3 1/3-inning start, but the Tides could not survive the bullpen bridge behind him. Once Durham broke through, the game turned on the spot, and the Bulls’ pitching staff finished the job after the big inning created breathing room.

The win leveled the Harbor Park series and fit a pattern that has been building around this Durham club. Earlier in the week, Raynel Delgado doubled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning in a 4-2 win over Norfolk, and Tatem Levins has also been part of the group of timely contributors forcing their way into the Durham conversation. For a team now at 23-32, this was more than a nice comeback. It was proof that the Bulls can win with a frontline pitching performance, one explosive inning, and a growing list of bats that keep showing up when the game tightens.