Jake Cave's grand slam lifts Durham past Norfolk 7-5
Jake Cave’s grand slam in the seventh flipped Durham past Norfolk 7-5 in his first minor league game in three years, and it may have done more than win a game.
Jake Cave’s first minor league game in three years ended with the swing Durham needed most: a seventh-inning grand slam that turned a tight road game into a 7-5 win over Norfolk at Harbor Park. For the Bulls, it was the kind of veteran at-bat that can change a night in one cut, and for the Tampa Bay Rays, it was a reminder that experienced depth still matters when a roster needs a quick answer.
Durham had already worked its way into the frame before Cave arrived at the moment. Homer Bush delivered an RBI single with two outs in the top of the seventh, and then Cave stepped in and cleared the bases against Walker to deliver the lead-changing blast. Jacob Melton added another RBI single later in the inning, giving the Bulls enough cushion to finish off a game that had been hanging in the balance.
The home run carried extra weight because of how Cave got to Durham. The Bulls said he had just signed with Tampa Bay out of the Mexican major leagues after spending the 2025 season in Korea and the first part of 2026 with Veracruz. Cave had played in the majors from 2018 to 2024, mostly with the Minnesota Twins, and his MLB player profile lists him at 33 with 523 major league games and a .236 career average. That is a long resume for a player making his first affiliated minor league appearance in three years, and it showed in the biggest spot of the game.
That is why this was more than a nice box score line. Durham is built to serve Tampa Bay when the Rays need help fast, and Cave’s night was the kind of proof point clubs look for when they want to know whether a veteran can still impact a game immediately. He did it in one inning, against one pitcher, with one swing that changed the lead and settled the contest.
The win also kept Durham moving in the right direction. The Bulls improved to 3-0 with the victory, then later extended their second-half opening streak to five games before dropping the nightcap of a Sunday doubleheader, a run that made the Cave game part of a much sharper stretch than a routine midweek stop.
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