Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Continues Mastery of WooSox
Worcester – The Worcester Red Sox dropped their third in a row this week to 1st-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6-2 on Thursday night at Polar Park. The RailRiders are now a perfect 6-0 in Worcester this season and lead the season-series over the WooSox by a 14-4 margin with three games remaining
Worcester – The Worcester Red Sox dropped their third in a row this week to 1st-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6-2 on Thursday night at Polar Park. The RailRiders are now a perfect 6-0 in Worcester this season and lead the season-series over the WooSox by a 14-4 margin with three games remaining through this weekend.
Worcester (67-67) has lost 6 of their last 7 games and fallen back to the .500 mark on the season for the first time in 44 days since they were 48-48 on July 22. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre meanwhile has a league-best 80-52 record and has increased their 2nd half, 1st-place lead over Syracuse to 4½ games with 15 games remaining.
Thursday’s pitching matchup featured WooSox lefty Shane Drohan, who entered the game with a 3-0, 1.78 record that included a recent 3½ month stint on the injured list with left forearm inflammation, vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ace Allan Winans, who was 11-0 with a 1.18 ERA this season, while the RailRiders were a remarkable 18-0 in his 18 appearances on the year. Drohan suffered the loss while Winans was not involved in the decision, although Scranton/WB is now 19-0 when he pitches in a game this season.
The RailRiders scored first on a 2-run double by SS Andrew Velazquez in the 2nd inning. Worcester evened things at 2-2 thanks to a 2-run HR by 2B Mikey Romero in the bottom of the 3rd inning. For the 21-year-old Romero, Boston’s 1st round pick in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft, it was his 6th homerun and RBIs #21 & 22 in 30 games with the WooSox since being promoted from Double-A Portland (where he had 8 HR) on August 1.
Drohan was lifted with 2 outs in the 4th inning after the RailRiders regained the lead with a run on an RBI single by Jose Rojas. Drohan’s final line – 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO. Jacob Webb came on to get the last out in the 4th and then was the victim of some tough luck in the 5th inning as Scranton/WB scratched across two more runs to up their lead to 5-2 halfway through the game.
Alex Hoppe (2 innings, 4 strikeouts) and Nick Burdi (1 inning) kept the WooSox in the game with scoreless relief. Hobie Harris allowed a run in the 9th to make the final, 6-2.
WooSox 1B Kristian Campbell was the only Sox player with a multi-hit game going 2-for-4. Velazquez, Bryan De La Cruz, and Jose Rojas all had 2 hits apiece for Scranton/WB.
Game four of this 6-game set is Friday at 6:05 pm at Polar Park and will be followed by the penultimate UniBank Fireworks extravaganza of the 2025 season. Tyler Uberstine (3-4, 4.08) gets the starting assignment for the WooSox vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Brendan Beck (7-2, 4.26). The game will be televised live on NESN+ and can be heard on NASH 98.9 FM and the rest of the WooSox Radio Network.