JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With two runners on in the bottom of the eighth, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp fell 5-4 in a rain-shortened contest to the Durham Bulls Sunday afternoon at VyStar Ballpark.
Jacksonville (50-41, 8-9) opened the scoring in the top of the first after Andrew Pintar led off the inning with a single, stole second, and scored on a Deyvison De Los Santos double to put the Jumbo Shrimp ahead 1-0.
Durham (41-50, 13-3) answered in the second against Jacksonville starter Bradley Blalock (L, 1-6) when Nick Madrigal singled to open the frame. He moved to second on a Logan Driscoll walk and scored three batters later on an Oliver Dunn fielder’s choice groundball to tie the game at one. Driscoll and Dunn both scored in the ensuing at-bat on a two-run single from Gavin Lux to give the Bulls a 3-1 lead.
Gage Miller (4) chipped away at the deficit with a leadoff solo homer in the bottom of the second to cut the Durham advantage to 3-2.
The Bulls tacked on two more runs in the fourth after the first five hitters reached base. Homer Bush Jr. dropped down a bunt single to begin the inning. A fielding error and walk loaded the bases for Carson Williams, who plopped a run-scoring single to left to push the score to 4-2. A Jacob Melton bases loaded walk forced in Dunn to set the margin at 5-2.
A pair of longballs inched the Jumbo Shrimp closer in the fourth. Miller (5) tucked his second home run of the day down the left field line and Garret Forrester (1) followed suit two batters later with a solo blast to the right field seats. Forrester’s first home run at the Triple-A level brought Jacksonville to within a run again, 5-4.
Bulls reliever Joe Boyle (W, 1-4) tossed 3.2 shutout innings with six strikeouts to get Durham to the rain-shortened finish line.
The Jumbo Shrimp will enjoy the All-Star Break and return to the field Friday at 6:45 p.m. on the road for a three-game set against the Rochester Red Wings.
Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ESPN 690 and 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 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champions, the Jumbo Shrimp call VyStar 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.