Bulls Best Knights 7-5

Bulls starting pitcher Taj Bradley fired six strong innings, while third baseman Xavier Edwards and first baseman Jim Haley combined for five hits and four runs driven in and designated hitter Wander Franco clubbed two hits in the first game of his MLB Rehab Assignment as Durham defeated the Charlotte Knights 7-5 on Sunday evening at Truist Field.

Bradley turned in his second straight quality outing for the Bulls, yielding two earned runs on five hits in six innings of work, adding no walks and six strikeouts, though he did not factor in the final decisions. Durham southpaw Josh Fleming (2.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 SO) earned the win, while reliever Dusten Knight notched his ninth save.

Durham struck first with a pair of tallies in the third, as Haley drove in his first run of the ninght with an RBI double before Franco's run-scoring single. Charlotte would even the contest with single scores in the third and fifth frames before the Bulls answered with two more runs in the sixth courtesy of RBI singles from SS Tristan Gray and LF Grant Witherspoon to make it 4-2. After the Knights tied the game with two runs in the seventh, Durham countered with a three-run eighth that put the Bulls ahead for good as Haley drove in his second run before Edwards lined a two-run single to center.

Edwards (3-4, 2 RBI) led all Bulls batters with three hits, while Franco (2-4, RBI, BB), Witherspoon (2-3, 2 R, 2B, RBI), Haley (2-4, 2 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and CF Luke Raley (2-5, R) each added multi-hit efforts. 2B Miles Mastrobuoni did not record a hit, snapping his 2022 team-best hit streak at 17 games.

The Bulls return to Durham to begin a six-game homestand versus the New York Yankees' Triple-A affiliate Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders on Monday, September 5. First pitch is set for 5:05pm.

Tickets for that game and all remaining 2022 home contests are still available and can be purchased at DurhamBulls.com.