Reinforcements Rock: Flo and newbies lead way in 7-2 win over Worcester Friday

*Worcester, MA (July 16, 2021) – *The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders beat the Worcester Red Sox 7-2 on Friday night at Polar Park. Estevan Florial homered twice and newcomers Donny Sands and Matt Pita hit home runs in their Triple-A debuts to pace the RailRiders to a series win with two games left in this seven-game set.

Worcester opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a run against Glenn Otto on a walk and two hits, but Sands hit a 3-1 pitch from Stephen Gonsalves over the videoboard down the left field line to tie the game at one.

Florial led off the third inning with his seventh home run of the season for a 2-1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre edge, but the WooSox evented the game against Otto in the bottom of the inning.

Matt Pita hit a three-run blast to left in the sixth inning to recapture the lead for the RailRiders. Socrates Brito added a run on a sac fly in the seventh and Florial’s second home run of the night, a solo shot in the eighth, capped the scoring at 7-2.

Welcome to Triple-A, Matt Pita! 💣 pic.twitter.com/vodFhzNzpv

— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) July 17, 2021

Otto worked 4.1 innings in his first Triple-A start, allowing seven hits while striking out four. Reggie McClain (5-1) followed Otto with an inning and two-thirds scoreless for the win. Greg Weissert and Stephen Ridings combined for three additional scoreless innings to end the game, walking one batter apiece without allowing a hit.

Gonsalves (3-4) took the loss after allowing the first five runs on five hits and two walks while striking out nine.

Sands had three hits to pace the RailRiders, who also got multi-hit efforts from Florial and Pita.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has won four-out-of-five in this seven game series, which continues at 4:05 P.M. on Saturday at Polar Park. Luis Gil (2-0, 5.32) is slated to start for the RailRiders. Worcester’s starter has yet to be announced.