Durham erupts for seven-run third, snaps nine-game skid at Lehigh Valley

Durham turned one inning into the entire game at Coca-Cola Park, erasing a 3-0 deficit with a seven-run third and rolling to a 12-5 win over Lehigh Valley on April 24. The Bulls did more than just take control of the night. They finally won in Allentown for the first time in nine tries, a drought that stretched back to April 12, 2024, and steadied a trip that had already started with consecutive losses to the IronPigs.

The third inning was a full-on collapse from Lehigh Valley starter Ryan Cusick and a clinic from Durham on how to keep a rally alive without needing to swing out of the strike zone. Cusick retired the first batter, then lost the zone with four straight walks. Carson Williams drew the first bases-loaded pass to force in Durham’s initial run, Raynel Delgado followed with a single to center for another, and Dom Keegan worked yet another walk to bring home the tying run. Justyn-Henry Malloy then pushed across the fourth run with a foul sacrifice fly before Logan Davidson finished the inning’s damage with a three-run homer to right-center. By the time the Bulls were done, a 3-0 Lehigh Valley lead had become a 7-3 Durham advantage.

Durham kept extending the gap later, adding four unearned runs in the eighth after shortstop Sergio Alcantara’s error kept the inning alive. Williams doubled home two runs in that frame, and Delgado added a two-run single to make the margin comfortable. The Bulls’ offense finished with 12 runs despite not leaning on a parade of extra-base hits; it was the kind of inning built on patience, contact and the ability to punish every extra pitch.

Andrew Wantz earned the win with 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing no hits. Garrett Cleavinger also turned in a scoreless frame, and the bullpen never had to sweat the late turns once Durham had built the cushion. Gavin Lux, in a rehab appearance for Tampa Bay, played the full game at second base and went 1-for-5 with an RBI double in the ninth.

The finish got a little strange when a pickoff throw got away, but the story was already written. Durham improved to 9-16, Lehigh Valley fell to 14-11, and the Bulls walked out of Allentown with the kind of offensive burst that can reset a road trip in one frame.