Conine, Gray lift Jumbo Shrimp to 4-3 win

Jacksonville moves back to .500 by winning at Durham

Griffin Conine went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs in Thursday's 4-3 victory at Durham. (Dell Morgan/Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp)

By Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

April 4, 2024

DURHAM, N.C. – Griffin Conine drove in two and Tristan Gray homered for the third game in a row on Thursday to lead the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to a 4-3 victory over the Durham Bulls at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Jacksonville (3-3) earned a wire-to-wire win by scoring just two

DURHAM, N.C. – Griffin Conine drove in two and Tristan Gray homered for the third game in a row on Thursday to lead the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to a 4-3 victory over the Durham Bulls at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Jacksonville (3-3) earned a wire-to-wire win by scoring just two batters into the contest. Marty Costes led off against Durham (2-4) starter Mason Montgomery (0-2) with a base hit before scoring on Conine’s double. Dane Myers followed with a single and after a strikeout, Troy Johnston notched an RBI ground out to plate Conine and make it 2-0.

With the same score, José Devers singled to lead off the fourth. Two batters later, Dalvy Rosario notched a base hit, and two batters after that, Conine came through with an RBI single.

The Bulls answered in the bottom of the fourth. Ruben Cardenas led off the frame with a base knock and moved to second on Tristan Peters’ walk. After a double play ground ball, Jake Mangum notched an RBI single to get Durham on the scoreboard.

Gray homered to start the fifth inning for Jacksonville, his third long ball and fourth extra-base hit of the series.

Consecutive one-out singles by C.J. Hinojosa and Mangum and an error loaded the bases for the Bulls in their half of the sixth. Following a fly out, Dominic Smith laced a two-run single to right-center to pull Durham within 4-3.

However, the Bulls could get no closer. After Yonny Chirinos (1-1) worked 5.0 innings and yielded just one ruun, Devin Smeltzer, Eli Villalobos and Emmanuel Ramirez combined to limit the Bulls to 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Durham stranded 14 runners on base.

Jacksonville and Durham meet again in Friday’s 6:35 p.m. contest. RHP Edward Cabrera (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his second rehab start for the Jumbo Shrimp against Bulls RHP Nathan Wiles (0-1, 12.00 ERA). Coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on ESPN 690 AM and www.ESPN690.com.

ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The team calls 121 Financial Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.