Gavin Lux and Jake Fraley gave Triple-A Durham plenty to work with on Tuesday night, each turning in a strong step forward in their rehab assignments as the Bulls edged the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 9-8.
Lux handled designated hitter duties and went 3-for-4, lining three singles that all came off the bat hard. Each of his hits registered an exit velocity above 95 mph. Fraley, meanwhile, supplied the biggest swing of the night with a three-run homer and also spent four innings in right field.
For Lux, the outing marked his third game since restarting the latest rehab assignment on June 30. He’s been working back from a long list of injuries, most recently left shoulder inflammation that surfaced in mid-May. Before that, he opened the season on the injured list because of a right shoulder injury he dealt with through much of spring, then hit another snag when he sprained his ankle during an earlier rehab assignment.
The Rays brought Lux in from the Reds in a three-team trade in January with the expectation that he’d be their everyday second baseman. Across parts of six major league seasons, he has a career .713 OPS.
Fraley’s night carried its own significance. His homer came as part of a back-to-back-to-back stretch with Carson Williams and Jacob Melton, a burst that helped fuel Durham’s offense. He has been out since May 16 after a procedure to address a sports hernia.
In his first season with the Rays after signing a one-year deal in November, Fraley was hitting .232 with a .690 OPS through 28 games before the injury.
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