Memphis, Tennessee:

Memphis Redbird fans waited nearly two years to see their team take the field at AutoZone Park before the highly anticipated Opening Day matchup with the Durham Bulls. The wait might have been too long for some, but it worth it as fans began to file into AutoZone Park to celebrate the return of Redbirds baseball.

Sure, Tuesday night didn’t go as planned for Memphis as they dropped the first game of the series to Durham ( final score) but, it felt good to have baseball back to being played at AutoZone Park.

Memphis started the game on a hot streak behind an impressive start from the starting pitcher Thomas Parsons who went four and third innings throwing six strikeouts.

From there, the Redbirds were able to manage five runs on seven hits, but it wasn’t enough as Durham put together an impressive run in the 7th to take a 6-5 lead over Memphis.

From that point on, it was the visiting Durham Bulls shutting the door on Memphis to close the game with a 7-5 win over the home team.

For Durham, they were led by Wander Franco, who finished the night with three hits in his professional baseball debut. Franco is a 20-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic who Tampa Bay expects to be the future of the franchise. If Franco were to continue on the path he started tonight, he might be getting the call up a lot sooner than anybody could have ever imagined.

Memphis had a guy by the name of Max Moroff who went three for three on the night, including a home run and one RBI.

Memphis and Durham will play five more games at AutoZone Park this week before the Redbirds hit the road and travel to Nashville to take on the Sounds in a massive minor league rivalry game.