A day after they were no-hit for the first time since 2021, the Rochester Red Wings surrendered 26 hits in a 20-7 loss to Worcester Friday afternoon. 2B Paul Witt launched his first Triple-A home run and came in to pitch the eighth and ninth, his eighth career appearance on the mound. DH Franchy Cordero and C Brady Lindsly also added homers of their own in the final frame to cut into the big lead.

Worcester came out firing in the top half of the first inning. DH Roman Anthony started the party with a single to the right of second base that the shortstop fielded, beating out the throw for an infield single. 3B Vaughn Grissom then laced a double in the left-center field gap, moving Anthony to third. SS Marcelo Mayer followed that up with a groundout to second base, scoring Anthony from third, and moving Grissom to take his place. 2B Abraham Toro tacked on to the Red Sox lead with a two-run home run to center field, making it 3-0 after the top of the first.

After the Red Wings were unable to push a run across in the bottom of the first, Worcester tacked on five more in the top of the second inning. LF Tyler McDonough led off the inning with a home run over the right field wall. CF Phillip Sikes followed up the solo home run with a hit-by-pitch. With a runner on first, the number two overall ranked prospect in baseball, Roman Anthony, came to the plate once again and singled up the middle, moving Sikes to third. Grissom came to the plate with runners on the corners and was drilled by a pitch to load the bases for Marcelo Mayer. The Chula Vista, CA native launched a full count heater well over the right field wall for a grand slam. The huge top half of the second inning made it 8-0 WooSox going into the bottom of the second inning.

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Rochester was able to weather the storm for only one inning until Worcester started the scoring barrage once again. The Red Sox would spark a two-out rally, off the walk to Abraham Toro. RF Nate Eaton, with a runner on base, was plunked by a heater to put runners on second and first. After a Rochester mound visit, 1B Nathan Hickey worked a two-out walk to load the bases for Tyler McDonough. With the North Carolina State alumni at the plate, a passed ball moved all the runners up one spot, scoring Toro. McDonough, later in the at-bat, hit a line drive single to left field that scored Eaton, moved Hickey up to third, and McDonough advanced to second on a throwing error. Worcester took a 10-0 lead into the bottom half of the fourth inning.

The Red Wings went down in order in the bottom half of the fourth, and Worcester picked up right where they left off in the top of the fifth. C Mark Kolozsvary led off the inning with a single to center field. Vaughn Grissom stepped up to the plate two batters later and doubled to right field, moving Kolozsvary to third. Marcelo Mayer followed that up with a ground ball to second base, scoring Kolozsvary and moving Grissom to third. The WooSox would go into the sixth inning with an 11-0 lead over Rochester.

Rochester finally silenced the Worcester bats in the sixth inning, but they got it started again in the seventh inning. Vaughn Grissom doubled on a sharp line drive to left field and eventually advanced to third on a groundout in the next at-bat. With one out and a runner on second, Abraham Toro logged an infield single to shortstop, scoring Grissom from third. After the next batter struck out, Nathan Hickey homered to left-center, making it 14-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Red Wings finally answered Worcester’s onslaught in the ensuing half inning. 1B Juan Yepez led off the inning with a walk. Two batters later, 2B Paul Witt hit a deep fly ball over the left-center field wall for a two-run home run, his first of the season. After seven innings of play, Rochester trailed Worcester 14-2.

With Rochester on the ropes, Worcester went for the knock-out punch in the top of the eighth inning. PH Alex Binelas led off the inning with a single on a line drive to right field. Vaughn Grissom kept his hot bat going with a double to left field, moving Binelas to third. With two runners in scoring position, Marcelo Mayer singled, scoring Binelas and moving Grissom to third. Abraham Toro cashed in one more time with a sacrifice fly ball to center field, allowing Grissom to tag up and advance 90 feet, making it 16-2 after eight innings of play.

Worcester decided to keep the bats going in the top of the ninth inning. Tyler McDonough led off the last frame for the Red Sox with a double to right field. After back-to-back outs, Alex Binelas launched a home run that just got over the right-center field wall, making it 19-2. Vaughn Grissom then stepped up to the plate and made it back-to-back homers, the WooSox' sixth of the ballgame to make the score 20-2.

The Red Wings chipped away at the 18-run deficit in the ninth but still came up short. The pitcher Paul Witt got the offense going in the bottom of the ninth with a single back up the middle. 2B Darren Baker moved Witt to third with an infield single that was misplayed by the shortstop. C Brady Lindsly dug into the box next, looking to do damage, and launched his first homer to the back of the Red Wings bullpen in right field. 3B Brady House then roped a line drive single into right field, allowing the power threat LF Franchy Cordero to step to the plate. The Dominican Republic launched his second homer of the year over the left field wall. That would be all for the Red Wings' comeback, coming up short. The final score was 20-7.

RHP Hyun-Il Choi took the ball to start for the Red Wings. The South Korea native allowed eight earned on six hits across 1.1 innings and gave the ball to RHP Carlos Romero in the second. The right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) of his own, on two hits with a pair of strikeouts and walks apiece. LHP Garvin Alston followed suit and covered 2.1 frames, allowing one earned on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks, handing the ball to RHP Daison Acosta in the seventh. The Dominican Republic native allowed three earned on four hits with a pair of strikeouts. Rochester next turned to position player Paul Witt, who began the game at second base, to finish the job. He allowed six earned on nine hits over 2.0 frames.

Tonight’s Player of the Game goes to 2B/RHP Paul Witt. The Harpers Ferry, West Virginia native launched his first homer of the year and first in Triple-A in the loss, a 456-foot shot down to center field for the Red Wings' only extra-base hit of the ballgame, and the longest home run over the last two seasons.. He finished the night with a 2-for-4 line, adding 2 RBI and a run scored. Witt also made an appearance on the mound, his eighth appearance of his career.

Rochester and Worcester will play game five of their six-game set Saturday afternoon. The Red Wings are looking to win their first game of the series and snap their eight-game skid. The first pitch is slated for 1:05 p.m.

Find the box score attached here.

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