Franco, Bruján combine for 3 homers
The Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of the Rays, had a good night at AutoZone Park in Memphis on Saturday, routing the Redbirds, 15-3. It was a sliver of good news for their parent club after Tampa Bay saw center fielder Kevin Kiermaier exit a 6-3 loss to the A's early due to a sprained left wrist.
Even better news for the Rays was that the franchise's top two prospects, shortstop Wander Franco (the No. 1 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline) and second baseman Vidal Bruján (No. 41) drove in six of Durham's 15 runs by themselves.
Bruján and Franco launched back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning to put the cherry on top of the big Durham victory, and for Bruján, it was his second homer of the game. Franco went 2-for-6 overall and Bruján finished 3-for-5 with five RBIs. Bruján's ninth-inning blast was a three-run homer, while his other home run, a two-run shot, came in the fourth.
The star middle infielders are both red-hot to begin the Triple-A campaign, with Franco hitting .421 and Brujan upping his batting average to .429 on the young season. We could certainly be seeing Franco make his MLB debut sometime this year, and don't be surprised if Bruján isn't far behind him.