WooSox Slug Season-High Five Home Runs, Take Down IronPigs

ALLENTOWN, PA – The final road game of the 2026 season belonged to Allan Castro. The switch-hitter homered from both sides of the plate on Sunday afternoon, lifting the Worcester Red Sox (73-65 / 37-30) to a thrilling 8-7 victory over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (67-76 / 32-36) at Coca-Cola Park. The win clinched both a winning season overall and a winning record on the road for Worcester, wrapping up a two-week road trip to Buffalo and Lehigh Valley with a 7-4 record.

Castro's heroics capped off a five-homer day for the WooSox. He launched his first home run of the day, a solo shot from the left side, off Max Lazar in the seventh inning to tie the game at 6-6. Then, trailing 7-6 in the top of the ninth after a leadoff single by Vinny Capra, Castro crushed a go-ahead two-run blast from the right side to put the WooSox on top 8-7.

Sam McWilliams (3-2) earned the victory by pitching two perfect innings in relief, while Kirby Snead (6-3) was saddled with the loss after surrendering the decisive ninth-inning homer to Castro.

The WooSox initially jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the first three and a half innings against Lehigh Valley starter Casey Lawrence. Mikey Romero kickstarted the offense with a single in the second inning and scored on a two-run blast by Tsung-Che Cheng. Worcester kept the pressure on in the third when Capra and Boston’s top prospect, Franklin Arias, hit back-to-back home runs to extend the lead to 4-0. Arias has now hit 24 home runs this year between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester. Max Ferguson then made it 5-0 in the fourth with an RBI single.

Lehigh Valley battled back however, scoring six of their seven runs with two outs to erase the five-run deficit and claim a 6-5 lead by the end of the seventh. WooSox starter Gage Ziehl received a no-decision. He did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, when Keaton Anthony hit a solo home run. The IronPigs added another run in the fifth before exploding for four runs in the sixth frame. Colby Thomas tied the game with a two-run double, and Nick Biddison followed with an RBI single to give Lehigh Valley its first lead of the day.

Ziehl finished his afternoon having worked 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits with no walks while tying his Triple-A high with eight strikeouts.

Arias, Nate Baez, Capra, and Castro all recorded multi-hit performances during Worcester's 13-hit attack. Meanwhile, Romero extended his current hitting streak to nine games with his second-inning single.

The WooSox return to Polar Park on Tuesday night, opening their final regular-season series of the 2026 season, taking on the Durham Bulls. Neither team has announced their starting pitcher. Tuesday night is a Taco & Tequila Tuesday presented by Teremana. The game will be televised on NESN+, and radio pregame coverage begins at 5:45 pm on the WooSox Radio Network. Tickets are available at woosox.com or 508-500-8888.