Kavadas Goes Deep Twice in 12-5 Victory Over Durham

WORCESTER, M.A. — The Worcester Red Sox (8-9) won their fourth straight on Friday night at Polar Park, a 12-5 victory over the Durham Bulls (6-12) in front of a sellout crowd of 9,508.

With the WooSox down 3-2 in the sixth, Tyler Heineman and Niko Kavadas were each hit by pitches to put the tying and go-ahead runs on base. After a strikeout, Chase Meidroth continued his strong week, smashing a game-tying RBI single through the right side.

That brought Jamie Westbrook to the plate with two on. He went down 0-2, then clobbered a 405 foot three-run home run to left-center, putting the home team on top 6-3.

Westbrook, who hit 21 homers in 2023 at Triple-A, delivered his second in 15 Worcester games.

Nick Sogard would follow with a single and a stolen base, and after a flyout, scored on an Eddy Alvarez RBI single to extend the lead to 7-3.

After Durham got one back on a Ronny Simon long ball, the WooSox blew the game open with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded, Westbrook made it a four-RBI night off the bench with a bloop single. Sogard grounded in to a fielder’s choice next, but a throwing error scored Niko Kavadas and Tyler McDonough to extend the home team’s lead to 10-4.

Back in the second, the WooSox grabbed an early edge on a two-run long ball to dead center by Kavadas. He would make it the first multi-homer game of his Triple-A career with another two-run job, the final big swing of the night. In his second Triple-A season, the 25-year-old now has four home runs and six extra-base-hits in 12 games.

Worcester starter Grant Gambrell went five innings for the third time in four starts. The right-hander struck out five and allowed three runs, one on a Ruben Cardenas solo homer in the third and two in the fifth on a CJ Hinojosa RBI single and run-scoring groundout.

Durham added a run in the ninth, but Melvin Adon got a groundout to close out a third straight win against Durham. Worcester posted season highs in runs (12) and hits (13) in the victory.

The WooSox continue the six-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. versus the Durham Bulls, affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. In game one, Brian Van Belle (0-0, 6.57) faces Jacob Waguespack, while Jason Alexander (1-0, 3.07) goes against Adam Leverett (0-1, 4.50) in game two. Television coverage is on NESN+, while radio coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network.