Gray homers again, but Jumbo Shrimp fall 6-2

DURHAM, N.C. – Tristan Gray homered for the fifth straight game but the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp fell 6-2 on Saturday to the Durham Bulls at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

On Jumbo Shrimp (4-4) starter Roddery Muñoz’s (0-2) first pitch of the bottom of the first inning, Tristan Peters crushed a home run that the Bulls (3-5) would not relinquish. Dominic Smith followed with a double before advancing to third on a fly out to right. Alex Jackson’s RBI ground out made it 2-0.

Jackson began the third with a double before Niko Goodrum cracked a two-run homer to increase Durham’s lead to 4-0.

Jacksonville finally got on the board in the fourth. Otto López doubled to lead off the inning against Bulls starter Jacob Lopez (2-0). Gray then smashed a home run to right field, his fifth consecutive contest going yard.

It was the only offense of the night for the Jumbo Shrimp. In the bottom of the fifth, Goodrum and Ruben Cardenas each singled with one out. Ronny Simon notched an RBI ground out to make it 5-2.

Cardenas jumpstarted the seventh with a triple. He scored on a balk to set the final margin at 6-2.

Jacksonville aims for a series win in Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. game at Durham. LHP Braxton Garrett (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes a rehab start for the Jumbo Shrimp against Bulls RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-1, 9.00 ERA). Coverage begins at 12:50 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.