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MOOSIC — There had never been a grand slam in the Triple-A National Championship Game. Until Tuesday.
And it came off the bat of one the most unlikely players in the Durham Bulls’ lineup, Kean Wong.
Facing a two-run deficit in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bulls second baseman lifted a fastball over the middle of the plate from Josh Zeid just over the wall in right field for a go-ahead grand slam.
The powering blast proved to be the difference as the Governors’ Cup champions edged the Pacific Coast League champion Memphis Redbirds 5-3.
“(The count) was 3-1, I knew he was going to come with a fastball because I had Willy (Adames) behind me. I just wanted to get the hit out, put a good swing on it and help the team win,” Wong said. “I was pumped up, as you could tell, running around the bases. I was just happy for us to get the lead and I knew our pitching staff was going to shut them down.”
With Tuesday’s victory, the Bulls became the second straight Governors’ Cup champion to win the Triple-A crown and narrowed the PCL’s edge to 7-5 overall. This was Durham’s second Triple-A National Championship, and first since 2009.
“We set some high goals and some high expectations for ourselves early on when I was listening to these guys talk saying, ‘This is the best team we’ve ever been on,’” Durham manager Jared Sandberg said. “We just continued to win games and find different ways to win games. At the end, it’s very, very rewarding. Not only personally, for the staff, the organization, but for these players, this is a memory they’re going to remember for the rest of their lives.”
Wong didn’t stop at a grad slam either.
He also collected a one-out single in the first inning and doubled to left in the third. Wong finished a triple shy of the cycle in four at-bats.
The 22-year-old second baseman finished with four RBI, which not only tied his career high but tied the record for most in Triple-A National Championship Game history.
Wong had a good feel for PNC Field this season, too.
Wong had just five home runs on the season coming into Tuesday and hadn’t homered since Aug. 19 against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at PNC Field. He sported a .333 batting average with four doubles, two home runs, five runs scored and nine RBI in six games in Moosic.
“I don’t know. Something. I mean, I like it,” Wong said of PNC Field. “Maybe one day I could play here all day, but you know, it was awesome. I love this field, too.”
After watching their ace struggle out of the gate, the Bulls’ relievers were able to pick up the slack.
Durham southpaw Ryan Yarbrough had a rough first inning, allowing two runs on a single, hit-by-pitch and Jacob Wilson RBI double, and didn’t make it out of the second inning, but the bullpen had his back. Jeff Ames, Chih-Wei Hu, Xavier Cedeno, Brent Honeywell and Diego Castillo pitched 7.2 innings of one-run baseball.
Sandberg’s ace up his sleeve was Honeywell.
The Tampa Bay Rays top pitching prospect provided the Bulls 2.2 innings of shutout baseball in relief, entering the game in the sixth. He was able to keep the Redbirds off balance his entire appearance, giving up just one hit and a walk while striking out one.
Honeywell was given the win after Yarbrough pitched 1.1 innings.
“They’re a good team, but I think our pitching staff was really good tonight,” Wong said. “I feel like out offense is one of the best in Minor League Baseball, and our pitching staff as well. We just tried to go out and score runs and help our team win.”
Triple-A National Championship Game
Durham 5, Memphis 1
Memphis`AB`R`H`BI
Martini lf` 3`0`0`0
O’Neill` 5`1`2`0
Garcia rf` 3`1`0`0
Wilson 1b` 4`0`1`2
Diaz 3b` 4`0`0`0
Caldwell 3b`0`0`0`0
Wisdom dh` 4`0`0`0
Valera 2b` 3`1`1`0
Edman db`1`0`0`0
Tovar ss` 4`0`2`0
Martinez c` 1`0`0`1
Totals` 32`3`6`3
Durham`AB`R`H`BI
Field cf`2`2`0`0
Wong 2b` 4`1`3`4
Adames ss` 4`0`1`0
Bauers 1b` 4`0`1`1
Leonard lf` 4`0`1`0
Peterson dh` 3`1`0`0
Robertson 3b` 1`0`0`0
J. Williams rf` 4`1`1`0
O’Conner c` 4`0`0`0
Totals` 30`5`7`5
Memphis`200`100`000` —`3
Durham`001`400`000` —`5
E: Bauers (12); OA: Garcia; DP: Redbirds 0, Bulls 1; LOB: Redbirds 8, Bulls 7; 2B: Wilson (1), Wong (22), Leonard (33); HR: Wong (6).
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Hudson`3.0`4`1`1`2`5
Zeid (L, 9-5)`1.0`2`4`4`1`3
Wick`1.0`1`0`0`1`3
Montgomery`1.0`0`0`0`0`1
Socolovich` 1.0`0`0`0`0`2
Mayers`1.0`0`0`0`1`1
Durham`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Yarbrough`1.1`3`2`2`2`2
Ames`1.2`0`0`0`0`0
Hu`1.0`2`1`1`0`1
Cedeno`1.0`0`0`0`0`0
Honeywell (W, 13-8)` 2.2`1`0`0`1`1
Castillo (S, 8)` 1.1`0`0`0`1`1
Umpires: Jasen Visconti, HP; Nate White, 1B; Jeremy Riggs, 2B; Bryan Fields, 3B.
Time: 3:11; Att.: 9,383.
