Esteban Quiroz Surges in Bulls 13-5 Victory

JACKSONVILLE FL – Esteban Quiroz has immediately made his presence known for the Bulls since the Taylor Walls call-up, and it showed on Tuesday night’s victory over Jacksonville. It was all Jumbo Shrimp (13-6) through four innings of play, but the Durham Bulls (13-6) strung together another comeback by the score of 13-5. The Bulls finished the contest racking up 13 unanswered runs. The victory now brings them within striking distance for the top spot of the division.

The 29-year-old second baseman has been swinging a hot stick as of late. He entered the contest, logging in a respectable .333 batting average with one home run and two RBI over 21 at-bats. The productive numbers put Quiroz at a career .289 average to go along with 65 homers in 1,743 at-bats dating back to 2011. 

On Tuesday night, he continued to take advantage of his uptick of plate appearances, playing a crucial role in the Bulls massive comeback. He finished going two for four with a homer, a single, and two RBI which increased his average to .360 on the year. 

His first of two base knocks occurred in the bottom of the fourth, where the Bulls put up a four-spot. He lined a single up the middle to centerfield that brought in Josh Lowe to suddenly cut the deficit to one run, making it 5-4. Quiroz followed that at-bat, sending a solo homer to left field in the seventh, extending the Bulls advantage to 7-5, which later was finalized at 13-5.

The Jumbo Shrimp got off to a red hot start against Bulls starter Adrian De Horta who lasted just two innings. All of the damage came off the bat of Devin Marrero launching a three-run blast to give his team an early 3-0 advantage through two innings. Stetson Allie, David Hess, Drew Rasmussen, Chris Mazza, and Sean Poppen took over pitching duties after De Horta allowing a combined two earned runs. After a 5-0 Jumbo Shrimp lead, the rest was history. The Bulls surged to victory, putting up double digits in the run column and Quiroz had plenty to do with that.

Following the impressive performance by Quiroz, he should be locked in for the rest of the series as the Bulls stay in Jacksonville until Sunday for a six-game series. If Quiroz can keep up the red hot bat, maybe just maybe, he can finally get the MLB call-up he has been searching for his entire career.