Duncan, Bulls Batter Louisville 16-3

A day after top prospect Wil Myers was promoted to Tampa Bay, the first-place Bulls showed they had plenty of offense without him, crushing Louisville 16-3 on Monday night at the DBAP. Durham blasted three homers, notched 15 hits and scored a season high in runs, their most since beating Gwinnett 16-8 on July 25, 2012.

Shelley Duncan, returning to the team after missing three games on bereavement leave, hit a three-run shot over the Blue Monster in the second inning and bounced another three-run homer off the Snorting Bull sign in left field in the seventh. Duncan hit the bull in the ribs on June 2 to win a steak. This time, he added a salad to go with his main course, hitting the grass below the bull. He became the first Bull to hit the grass since Carl Crawford on April 13, 2002 and just the third player to hit the sign twice, joining Aaron Holbert in 1999 and Midre Cummings in 2004.  

Duncan's six RBI were a season-high for Durham, as was the team's 13-run margin of victory. Mike Fontenot added a three-run shot to center in the sixth. Red-hot Leslie Anderson hit in his eleventh straight game, going 3-for-3 with 3 runs, 3 RBI and his second career triple, the first since June 24, 2010, when he was with Double-A Montgomery.

Alex Colome started his second straight game on three days rest, again getting relieved in the third inning. Cory Wade (W, 2-0, 2.70) picked up the win in relief. Pedro Villarreal (L, 1-5, 6.08) gave up eight runs in 1.2 innings to take the loss. After burning through three relievers, Louisville turned to catcher Corky Miller, who took the mound for the final two innings, allowing Duncan's homer off the bull.

The same two teams meet Tuesday night at the DBAP with first pitch set for 7:05pm. LHP Mike Montgomery (3-0, 4.20) starts for the Bulls against Louisville's RHP Yohan Pino (1-3, 2.25).