WooSox Blank Columbus, 5-0 to Improve to 8-3 on Season

Jack Anderson (6 IP) and Tyler Uberstine (3 IP) Combine for Worcester's First Shutout of Season

WooSox righthander Jack Anderson tossed 6 shutout innings with 7 strikeouts to earn the victory in Worcester’s, 5-0 win over Columbus on Thursday at Polar Park. (Tayla Bolduc)

10:14 AM EDT

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox (8-3) received outstanding pitching from starter and winner Jack Anderson (1-0) and reliever Tyler Uberstine (SV #1) to blank the Columbus Clippers, 5-0 on Thursday night at Polar Park in a game that took just 2 hours & 14 minutes. The WooSox have

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox (8-3) received outstanding pitching from starter and winner Jack Anderson (1-0) and reliever Tyler Uberstine (SV #1) to blank the Columbus Clippers, 5-0 on Thursday night at Polar Park in a game that took just 2 hours & 14 minutes. The WooSox have won 7 of their last 8 games and at 8-3 have put together their second-best ever start to a season behind only the 2022 WooSox who were 9-2 after their first 11 games.

Anderson, making his second start of the season and his fifth for the WooSox dating back to last season, earned his first win in a Worcester uniform and his first Triple-A victory since 2024 with the Toledo Mud Hens (AAA-Detroit), The 26-year-old who was selected by Boston from Detroit in the Triple-A phase of the 2024 Rule 5 Draft, was sharp throughout his outing striking out 7 while allowing only three singles and one walk to blank the Clippers over 6-innings on 76 pitches (54 for strikes).

Uberstine, just back from making his Major League debut with the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday, came on in relief to start the 7^th inning and breezed through the final three innings yielding just a single and a walk to go with 3 strikeouts. The combination shutout was the first for the WooSox since last July 24 when Cooper Criswell, Hobie Harris, and Isaiah Campbell combined to blank St. Paul, 4-0 in Game 1 of a doubleheader.

The WooSox scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 2^nd inning, all with two outs. 2B Vinny Capra cracked an RBI double, extending his hitting streak to 6 games, to score 3B Anthony Seigler (0-for-3, walk, stolen base, run) who began an injury rehab assignment after missing all of spring training with Boston with left knee patellar tendinopathy. Catcher Jason Delay followed with a ringing double to plate Capra (with his league-leading 12^th run) and Delay came home when Braiden Ward singled to cap the 3-run frame.

In the 5^th, once again with two outs, the Sox struck again as SS Nick Sogard doubled and scored on Kristian Campbell’s RBI single. Sogard has reached base safely in all 10 of his games played while Campbell upped his hitting streak to 8 games. Worcester made it 5-0 n the 7^th when Ward was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on Mickey Gasper’s line single off the Worcester Wall. Gasper has hit safely in all 9 of his games played this season.

Worcester stole 6 bases in the game – their most since swiping 6 on May 2, 2023 vs. Buffalo. Ward (2 SB), Nate Eaton (2 SB), Seigler (1 SB), and Gasper (1 SB) had the thefts.

Logan Allen (1-1) suffered the loss for the Clippers – 4.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 7 SO. Columbus RF Nolan Jones had two of the four Clippers’ singles.

LHP Jake Bennett (1-1, 0.00), who has allowed just 1 unearned run over 8-innings in his two starts thus far, will take the mound for the WooSox in game four of this 6-game series on Friday night at 6:05 pm.

Bennett, the 25-year-old, 6’6” southpaw acquired from the Washington Nationals this past offseason, will be opposed by Columbus lefty Ryan Webb (0-1, 7.94).

The game, which will be followed by UniBank Fireworks as is tradition on Friday nights at Polar Park, will be live on NESN+ and can be heard on NASH 98.9 FM and the rest of the WooSox Radio Network.