Winners in eight of their last nine games, the Bulls bring a hot streak back home
Leading Triple-A East with 40 wins, the Durham Bulls are on fire, and showing no signs of slowing down.
After a five-game bout with the Norfolk Tides, and the completion of its series against the Gwinnett Stripers, the Durham Bulls emerged victorious in five of their six games last week. Additionally, they have won eight of the past nine.
The Bulls’ final game against Gwinnett saw them take home the win after a game-winning RBI from second baseman Esteban Quiroz last Sunday. First baseman Mike Ford’s grand slam earlier in the contest served as the highlight of the game.
A team accustomed to cutting it close, this served as the fifth walk-off victory for the Bulls, and second in two days.
The Bulls followed up that game with a thunderous 11-0 performance on Tuesday. The Bulls used four pitchers throughout the game to maintain the shutout. With its bats, Durham seized control of the game in a six-run second inning. Five players scored two runs on Tuesday.
The team didn’t take its foot off the gas in Game 2 of the series against Norfolk, either, winning 11-2 the following day. First baseman Dalton Kelly shined in the outing, posting three hits, three runs and two RBI in four plate appearances. Kelly also notched his 10th home run of the season, which leads the team.
In its third game against Norfolk, Durham fell to the Tides, 9-4, but recovered for the remainder of the series. The Bulls won 5-2 on Saturday and 1-0 on Sunday, giving them a second shutout victory in the five-game battle.
Despite his call up to the majors, shortstop Wander Franco still leads the Bulls in hits and RBI, but even since he’s been in Tampa, the team has continued to produce. Second basemen Vidal Brujan leads the team with 37 runs and is second on the team with nine homers.
The pitching unit is led by righty Joe Ryan. Ryan sits at 70 strikeouts on the season, and behind him is Drew Strotman with 52. Strotman is tied with David Hess for the most wins, as they have records of 5-2 and 5-1, respectively.
No team has performed better in its past 10 games than the Bulls, who are 8-2 in this span. Durham leads the league with a run differential of 130, with the second place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at 88.
The Bulls begin their six-game series against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Tuesday at 6:35 pm.
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Winners in eight of their last nine games, the Bulls bring a hot streak back home."
