IronPigs Cool Off WooSox, 10-5

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox began their season-long 12-game homestand with a 10-5 loss to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the opener of a 6-game series at Polar Park. The defeat snapped Worcester’s 5-game winning streak and their season-best 7-game home winning streak as they lost for just the second time in their last 13 games.

The WooSox are now 20-13 in the 2nd half and 56-48 overall after reaching a season-high 9-games over .500 coming into the game.

Lehigh Valley’s first three runs of the game came off the bat of LF Felix Reyes who had an RBI single in the 3^rd inning off starter Blake Wehunt and a 2-run single with 2 outs in the 4^th inning off reliever Osvaldo Berrios. Former Red Sox outfielder, Tommy Pham, a 13-year Major League veteran with 10 different teams, capped the 4-run 4^th with a 2-run double to make it 5-0 IronPigs.

The loss went to Wehunt (1-1) in his third WooSox start since his promotion from Portland as he went 3+ innings allowing 7 hits and 3 runs with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Berrios was charged with 2 runs on 2 hits in his 2 innings of relief.

Worcester cut into the Pigs lead with a 3-spot in the 5^th inning. RF Allan Castro ripped his third hit of the night scoring Nate Eaton (walk), 1B Brett Harris followed with an RBI single to plate Andrew Knizner, and LF Kristian Campbell added an RBI sac fly to bring home Castro and make it a 5-3 deficit.

Campell would later walk in the 7^th inning (his 58^th walk of the season which is 8^th most in the league) and singled in the 9^th extending his on-base streak to 19 straight games dating back to July 5.

Reyes, who had 4 hits and was on base five times on the night, was at it again in the 6^th inning with his third RBI hit off a third different WooSox pitcher (this time Noah Song). His run-scoring double came just out of the reach of Campbell in left and upped Lehigh’s lead to 6-3.

WooSox SS Franklin Arias, who went 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 6 games, singled with one out in the 6^th and Mikey Romero walked with two outs bringing up Knizner. The WooSox catcher smacked a single to right field bringing home both Arias and Romero, who hustled around to score while Knizner successfully escaped a rundown between 1^st and 2^nd base.

The score remained 6-5 in favor of the IronPigs until the top of the 9^th when Lehigh Valley broke things open with four runs to make the final, 10-5.

Game 2 of this 6-game set with the IronPigs will take place on Wednesday at 6:45 pm. RHP John Holobetz (1-0, 1.59) will make his second start, and his first at Polar Park, since being promoted from Double-A Portland last week. He will be opposed by righty Chuck King (7-5, 3.95). The game is live on NESN+ and can be heard on NASH 98.9 FM and The Pike 100.1 FM.