Castro Clubs Two Homers Including a Grand Slam to Lead WooSox Over Columbus, 8-2
Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox (10-4) used a two homer day from CF Allan Castro and a strong start from Payton Tolle to roll over the Columbus Clippers, 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at Polar Park. The 1st-place WooSox won the series, 4 games to 2, and improved to
Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox (10-4) used a two homer day from CF Allan Castro and a strong start from Payton Tolle to roll over the Columbus Clippers, 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at Polar Park. The 1st-place WooSox won the series, 4 games to 2, and improved to 10-4 on the young season – the best start in WooSox club history.
Castro, the 22-year-old outfielder from Santo Domingo, DR, had his breakout game in this his rookie Triple-A season. WooSox RF Nate Eaton led off the bottom of the 2nd inning with a single and Castro followed by smoking a 2-run HR that ricocheted off the Flexcon sign beyond the right-centerfield fence.
Then in the 3rd inning with Braiden Ward (single), Mickey Gasper (walk), and Mikey Romero (single) on base and two outs, Castro crushed the first pitch he saw over the Country Bank sign above the Worcester Wall for a grand slam and a 6-0 WooSox lead. It was Castro’s 3rd homer of the season and Worcester’s 3rd grand slam in 14 games (Nick Sogard and Gasper have the others).
That was all the run support Tolle would need as he upped his record to 2-0 with his second straight strong start. Tolle allowed three harmless hits, walked just one, and struck out 6 in 5 scoreless innings on 75 pitches (47 for strikes). Payton, who went 6 innings and gave up only 1 earned run with 7 strikeouts in a 4-2 win at St. Paul on April 5, broke three Columbus bats on Sunday, struck out the Clippers’ side in the 4th inning, and allowed only two baserunners to reach second base.
Worcester tacked on runs in the 4th inning on a Sogard sac fly that scored Vinny Capra (single) and in the 6th on a sac fly by Nathan Hickey to plate Tsung-Che Cheng (double). LF Braiden Ward had a single, walk, scored a run, and had two more stolen bases giving him 9 SB on the season to tie for the league lead.
Tommy Kahnle pitched a scoreless 9th inning giving up a hit with a strikeout in his third relief outing since joining the WooSox on April 7.
Worcester is off on Monday, but will fly to the great city of Nashville, TN in advance of opening a 6-game series against the Nashville Sounds (AAA-Milwaukee) for the first time ever on Tuesday night at 7:35 pm (EDT).
The last time a Red Sox Triple-A affiliate played in Nashville was on May 23, 1991 when the Pawtucket Red Sox blanked the Sounds behind Kevin Morton, 4-0.
Rehabbing Red Sox lefty Patrick Sandoval (0-0, 0.00) will face former WooSox southpaw Shane Drohan (0-0, 5.40) in the series-opener at First Horizon Park on Tuesday. The game can be heard on NASH 98.9 FM and The Pike 100.1 FM.
The 6-game set includes five straight night games…Tuesday – Saturday all at 7:35 pm (Eastern Time) before concluding next Sunday afternoon at 2:05 pm (EDT). The WooSox will gain more than 50 degrees in temperatures this week compared to the 30 degree temps they played in at St. Paul during their first road series from March 31 – April 5 (and better than the 50 degree temps in Worcester this past week/weekend). Nashville weather for the week looks glorious with a high of 85 degrees most days in the Music City.