Soroka Shines in Stripers' 3-1 Win Over Durham 

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Michael Soroka turned in his best performance of the season on Tuesday night, allowing just one run over 6.0 innings and striking out eight batters to set the Gwinnett Stripers (21-24) up for a 3-1 victory over the Durham Bulls (23-22) at Coolray Field.

Decisive Plays: The Bulls got off to a fast start as Osleivis Basabe stretched a groundball single into a double on the first pitch of the game. Kyle Manzardo brought Basabe home with a sacrifice fly to give Durham a 1-0 lead. Braden Shewmake answered with a homer (6) off Yonny Chirinos (L, 0-1) in the second inning to even the score, and Josh Fuentes put the Stripers in front with an RBI single later in the frame. A leadoff walk and a stolen base (21) for Forrest Wall set up an RBI single from Eli White in the fifth to make it 3-1. Yacksel Rios got Greg Jones to strikeout for his seventh save of the season.

Key Contributors: Soroka (W, 1-2) posted his second quality start of the season and did not allow a run over his final five innings of work. White (2-for-3, BB, RBI) recorded the only multi-hit outing of the game. Shewmake (1-for-4, HR, RBI) tied White for the team lead in homers with six. For Durham, Basabe (1-for-2, R, 2B, 2 BB) had the only extra-base hit and Manzardo (1-for-3, RBI) had the only RBI.

Noteworthy: In striking out eight batters, Soroka set a new season-high, and recorded his highest total of strikeouts in a game since 8/16/22, when he also struck out eight in his first start back from injury with High-A Rome. Yolmer Sanchez extended his team-best on-base streak to 20 games with a walk in the second inning. The Stripers have now won consecutive series opening games for the first time this season.

Next Game (Wednesday, May 24): Gwinnett vs. Durham. 7:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. RHP Beau Burrows (2-0, 5.18 ERA) is scheduled to go for the Stripers and the starting pitcher is currently TBD for the Bulls. Broadcast 6:50 p.m. on MyCountry993.com and the Bally Live app. It's Wet Nose Wednesday presented by Sahlen's, with free admission for dogs with a paid owner on The Bank.