Eight Doubles Lead WooSox Offensive Outburst Against IronPigs
ALLENTOWN, P.A. — The Worcester Red Sox (71-54) broke out for 10 runs on a season-high 16 hits—eight of which were doubles—to beat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (53-72) for the second straight night, a 10-9 win on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park. The WooSox scored in six of their nine
ALLENTOWN, P.A. — The Worcester Red Sox (71-54) broke out for 10 runs on a season-high 16 hits—eight of which were doubles—to beat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (53-72) for the second straight night, a 10-9 win on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park.
The WooSox scored in six of their nine offensive innings, including multi-run innings in the third and fourth. Connor Wong opened the scoring in the second for Worcester, a solo blast over the short wall in left field.
A slew of doubles followed, and by night’s end, the WooSox would have a season-high nine extra-base hits. Tate Matheny led off with one in the third then scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Danny Santana. Franchy Cordero brought Santana home with an RBI two-bagger down the right field line to put the road team on top 3-0.
Santana made his second appearance as part of a Major League rehab assignment off the COVID-19 Injured List, going 0-3 with a run scored.
After the IronPigs came back with two runs in the bottom of the third—on a Luke Williams sac-fly and Bryson Stott RBI single—another pair of Worcester extra-base hits broke the game wide open. A Jonathan Araúz double put two in scoring position (one of his two on the night), and one batter later, Jeter Downs delivered a two-run double to extend the lead to 5-2. Matheny was next to single home another run, and a Lehigh Valley throwing error made it 7-2.
four runs of fun in the fourth
— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) October 1, 2021
7-2 WooSox pic.twitter.com/KkvskkpgP6
Logan O'Hoppe cracked an RBI double to right in the bottom of the inning for the IronPigs, and after a scoreless fifth, the WooSox offense continued to tack on. With runners on first and second, Triston Casas ripped a run-scoring double down the right field line in the sixth. In the seventh, another swing put a man on second, this time off the bat of Wong, and after he moved to third, Downs scored him on a sac-fly.
On the mound, starter Kutter Crawford went 3.2 innings, allowing three runs with three strikeouts. John Schreiber followed, tossing 2.1 scoreless frames with three strikeouts. Following Thursday night's performance, Schreiber holds a 2.76 ERA over 32 Triple-A appearances, striking out 64 in 65.1 innings of work, along with an appearance for Boston earlier this season.
Yacksel Ríos allowed three runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Luke Williams, a Mickey Moniak RBI groundout and a Jorge Bonifacio run-scoring hit. Durbin Feltman was next and tossed a scoreless, nine-pitch eighth inning.
Worcester capped off the night offensively with a run in the ninth, a Matheny RBI single following the ninth and final double of the night off the bat of Araúz. That was significant, because the IronPigs put the tying run on in the bottom of the ninth and scored three runs, but Austin Brice got the final out of the game to give the WooSox a 5-2 start to the Triple-A Final Stretch.
The WooSox continue the final series of the 2021 season on Friday against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Radio coverage starts live at 6:45 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network. On the mound, Worcester’s Josh Winckowski (0-1, 3.00) faces Francisco Morales (0-0, 0.00).