Special to the Herald-Sun
DURHAM -- With its offense having only scratched out six runs during its five-game losing streak, Durham employed a double steal in the first inning of Saturday night's game against the Pawtucket Red Sox to change its flagging fortunes.
When Pawtucket catcher Dusty Brown uncorked an imperfect throw to second, the Bulls' Desmond Jennings trotted home from third to kick start what turned out to be a four-run inning.
Alas, any payoff from that inning will have to wait until today.
Thunderstorms enveloped the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the bottom of the second inning, forcing Saturday's game to be suspended after a 1:25 delay with the Bulls leading 5-0.
Play will resume this afternoon at 4 p.m. with two Durham runners on and nobody out. The regularly scheduled game, which was supposed to begin at 5 p.m., will follow the completion of the first.
"After a tough road trip where we didn't hit, it was good to see our offense get into something," Durham manager Charlie Montoyo said. "That was good to see. Hopefully it didn't stop with the rain today."
The Bulls alleviated some of their offensive frustrations by taking advantage of Pawtucket starter Boof Bonser. After Jennings walked, Elliot Johnson singled to right to set up the double steal. Johnson then came around to score on a single by Justin Ruggiano. Ruggiano scored on a single by Joe Dillon, and when Dillon scored on a sacrifice fly by Angel Chavez, Durham had nearly matched its output of its previous five games.
With lightning cracking overhead in the second, Fernando Perez scored on an infield single by Johnson.
NOTES -- Durham wore green jerseys with white sleeves in honor of autism awareness. ... Bulls right-hander Richard De Los Santos (2-2, 4.76) was scheduled to pitch against Pawtucket left-hander Felix Doubront (4-0, 2.51 ERA with Double-A Portland) today, but Montoyo wasn't 100 percent sure how the rain would affect the rotation.
