Gray Drives Durham Past Jacksonville 7-1

Tristan Gray homers twice, has gone deep 5 times over last 5 games

Bulls SS Tristan Gray crushed two homers in Durham's 7-1 win over Jacksonville on Wednesday night. (Paxton Rembis)

May 18, 2022

Bulls shortstop Tristan Gray smashed two home runs, giving him five longballs over his last five games, while first baseman Jim Haley also went yard and starter Josh Fleming fired six scoreless frames as Durham earned their sixth straight victory in a 7-1 win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on

Bulls shortstop Tristan Gray smashed two home runs, giving him five longballs over his last five games, while first baseman Jim Haley also went yard and starter Josh Fleming fired six scoreless frames as Durham earned their sixth straight victory in a 7-1 win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Wednesday evening at 121 Financial Field.

Gray got the scoring started with a two-run blast in the second before Haley doubled the Bulls advantage with a two-run shot of his own one frame later. Two more tallies would then come across in the fourth courtesy of an RBI double from 3B Jonathan Aranda and a run-scoring single from LF Josh Lowe. Gray would then bash his second big fly of the evening in the eighth to cap Durham’s scoring output.

Over his last five games, Gray has crushed five roundtrippers, homering in four of those five contests, including each of his last three. Prior to this stretch, Gray had crushed just four longballs in his first 25 games of the season. The win was the Bulls’ sixth straight win, having outscored their opponents 41-19 in those contests.

Fleming (6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO) twirled six scoreless innings to earn his second victory in as many starts with Durham. Durham relievers Zack Erwin (1.0 IP) and Phoenix Sanders (1.0 IP, 1 SO) combined for two perfect innings, while Jacksonville starter Bryan Hoeing (4.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO) suffered the defeat.

The two teams are slated to continue their six-game series on Thursday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm. Durham’s starter has not yet been announced, while Jacksonville is expected to give the nod to RHP Edward Cabrera.

The Bulls return to Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Tuesday, May 24 to start a six-game home series versus the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. First pitch of that series’ opener is set for 6:35pm.

Tickets for that game and all remaining 2022 home dates can be purchased at DurhamBulls.com/tickets.