Bulls Power To 10-5 Victory In Buffalo

Buffalo, NY --- The Durham Bulls hit three home runs in a wire-to-wire 10-5 victory over the Buffalo Bisons on Saturday night at Coca Cola Field.
Nick Ciuffo, Kean Wong and Brandon Lowe each hit home runs early in the contest as the Bulls (56-42) built a 7-1 lead after 3 1/2 innings.
Buffalo (44-48) clawed to within 7-5, but a sacrifice fly by Brandon Snyder in the sixth and a two-run double from Ciuffo in the eighth provided the winning margin.
Andrew Kittredge (W, 3-0) notched the victory, allowing a solo home run over his 2 2/3 innings. Colin Poche threw two hitless innings with three strikeouts, while Ian Gibaut worked a perfect ninth.
Forrest Snow threw 3 1/3 innings, permitting four runs and seven hits in his 100th career start.
The Bulls kept their four game lead in the South as Norfolk won its fifth straight game Saturday night.
Ciuffo drilled his third AAA home run with one out in the second, taking starting pitcher Brandon Cumpton (L, 2-1) over the centerfield wall.
In the third, Willy Adames singled and scored on a double to right-center from Christian Arroyo. Snyder looped a single to short right field to bring Arroyo home for a 3-0 lead.
After Rowdy Tellez hit the first of his two home runs for Buffalo in the third, the Bulls offense went back to work in the fourth. Andrew Velazquez singled and stole second ahead of a walk to Micah Johnson. Wong followed by golfing a three-run homer to right-center, his career-high ninth of the season. After a pitching change, Lowe hooked his organizational-leading 21st home run inside the right field foul pole against reliever Zach Stewart to lift the Durham lead to 7-1.  
Ciuffo finished 3-4 with three RBI, while Lowe was 3-5. Lowe has now homered in three straight games. In June, Lowe homered in four consecutive games, tying a Bulls Triple-A record with his current manager Jared Sandberg, who accomplished the feat in 2001. On Sunday, Lowe will have the chance to do it for the second time in a month.
Durham leads the series 2-1 and will close out its season-series against the Bison at 1:05 PM ET on Sunday.