The Durham Bulls are still in first place. Here’s how they fared this past week

Continuing to dominate the league, the Durham Bulls topped the Charlotte Knights in five of six games last week to maintain their position atop Triple-A baseball.

The Bulls hold an impressive winning percentage of .700 this season. In July, the team is 17-4.

Durham started the week strong, winning the first three games of the series. The team gave up three runs in each of the three games, but managed to counter with its own offensive production. The first game on Tuesday saw the Bulls outlast the Knights in the ninth inning. First baseman Dalton Kelly homered early in the first inning, followed shortly by a Ryan Boldt RBI to make it 2-0. Later in the game, behind 4-1, the Knights managed two runs before ultimately coming up short.

The Bulls had a bit more breathing room at the end of next two games. The Bulls won 7-3 on Wednesday due largely to an explosive, five-run fourth inning. The left-handed Dietrich Enns also delivered a strong performance on the mound, tossing 10 strikeouts and earning a win in the victory. The 5-3 win for Durham on Thursday was mostly decided in the fifth inning, when the Bulls established a 3-1 lead and stayed ahead for the remainder of the contest. For the second straight game, shortstop Tristan Gray hit a home run in the game, as well.

The bats did not favor the Bulls nearly as much on Friday, when they lost 4-0. Additionally, the Bulls only recorded two hits in the game. Charlotte, on the other hand, recorded 12, handing the Bulls their lone loss in the series.

The Bulls bounced back on Saturday and Sunday, scoring nine and 15 runs, respectively. Four Bulls players hit home runs in the 9-4 victory on Saturday. Second baseman Vidal Brujan scored three times.

Sunday capped off the series in a big way, though the advantage was clinched the game before. The 15 runs that Durham scored tied a season-high, which it previously reached in May. Charlotte jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first inning, and entered the fourth inning ahead 5-2. Brujan and Josh Lowe both scored two runners in the inning, to go along with Lowe scoring on a wild pitch. The scoring in the fourth was completed by a Kelly home run, his 13th on the season.

The Knights tied up the score in the top of the fifth with three runs of their own before the Knights took the lead back later in the inning, going up 10-8. Durham put the game away in the seventh, scoring five runs in the inning and maintaining the lead for the remainder of the matchup.

Lowe continues to have an impressive season for Durham, leading the team in hits, runs, RBI and home runs. The Bulls’ offensive attack remains strong along with Lowe, as five active players have at least 50 hits. As for the pitching core, the Bulls have the second-fewest runs allowed in the league. Their point differential of 158 is the biggest in Triple-A.

The Bulls will have a reworked pitching staff this week after the team’s parent club, the Tampa Bay Rays, pulled off a pair of trades, sending Durham regulars Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman to Minnesota as part of a package for big-league slugger Nelson Cruz. In another twist to that trade, Ryan is currently in Tokyo pitching for Team USA. The Rays’ other trade sent Rich Hill to the Mets for pitcher Tommy Hunter and Single-A catcher Matt Dyer.

The Rays also snagged righty Jake Reed off waivers from the Dodgers Sunday and assigned him to Durham.

The Bulls, 49-21, will face the Norfolk Tides on Tuesday, going on the road for a six-game series, with an additional makeup game from July 8th.