Season-High Five Homers Power WooSox to 14-5 Win

MOOSIC, PA — Enmanuel Valdez and Abraham Almonte each homered twice, and Triston Casas launched a solo homer as a season-high five long balls led the Worcester Red Sox to a 14-5 win over the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Friday night at PNC Field.

Valdez went 4-for-6 with two home runs and six RBIs, Almonte finished 2-for-4 with two homers, two walks, four runs and five RBIs, and Casas went 3-for-4 with a homer, a double, and a pair of walks. Franchy Cordero added three hits and scored three times.

Worcester had a 3-0 lead four pitches into the ballgame and never trailed. Cordero lined the game’s first pitch into right center for a double, and Abraham Almonte launched a 1-0 pitch over the fence in right for a two-run homer. On the next pitch, Enmanuel Valdez blasted one deep to right to make it 3-0 on back-to-back home runs.

Scranton scratched across three runs through the first three innings, but Valdez broke the game open in the fourth. After a single by Cordero and a walk to Almonte, Valdez hit another shot over the right field wall for a three-run homer, extending the lead to 7-4.

Worcester scored seven more runs over the final four innings. Valdez added a two-run single in the sixth, and Devlin Granberg hit a two-run double two batters later. Almonte hit another two-run shot in the seventh, and Casas capped the scoring with a leadoff homer in the eighth.

Eduard Bazardo made a three-inning spot start for Worcester, allowing three runs on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. Jake Thompson and Geoff Hartlieb each struck out two batters and tossed two innings without allowing an earned run.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak and prevented the WooSox (55-54) from falling below .500 for the first time since June 21 (33-34).

The WooSox continue the six-game road series against the RailRiders on Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. Radio coverage is live at 5:45 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network.