WooSox Crush Rochester 12-1 Behind Four Long Balls

WORCESTER, M.A. — A four home run night powered the Worcester Red Sox (17-11) past the Rochester Red Wings (8-20) in a 12-1 win on Friday night.

After Rochester took the lead on the first pitch of the game on a shot from the leadoff hitter, Luis Garcia, the WooSox continued their power show at Polar Park. In the bottom of the first, Marcus Wilson came up with Michael Chavis on base and put a 1-1 pitch off the high wall in right to push Worcester on top for the first time.

Johan Mieses led off the second and blasted his first long ball with Worcester, a 435-foot moonshot that banged off a passing train above the left field foul pole. The swing re-tied Mieses for the Minor League lead (Jo Adell, LAA), his twelfth home run between AA-Portland and Triple-A.

Here’s another look at Johan Mieses hitting a train #ChooChoo 🚂 pic.twitter.com/2RnUyEZx5t

— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) June 5, 2021

Three innings later, Franchy Cordero took the lead for the longest homer of the night—a solo shot that that travelled 451 feet to clear the high wall in right-center that extended the lead to 4-1. Cordero then nearly broke his mark in the eighth with a three-run blast over the batter’s eye in dead center, a ball that went 442 feet on his fourth homer with the WooSox.

Worcester added two more in the sixth inning, a rally that began with a two-out single from Michael Gettys. With Jack Lopez in the box, Gettys stole second then scored on a Lopez single. Chavis stepped in next and was hit by a pitch that pushed Lopez to second, and four pitches later, Wilson singled home Lopez to make it 6-1.

For the first time in his professional career, Daniel Gossett delivered his fourth straight win on the mound. The right-hander went seven innings, allowing just one run and striking out a season-high nine.

Three more came home for the WooSox in the eighth on a two-run double from Lopez that plated Mieses and Gettys, followed by a Chavis single that struck the pitcher and allowed the third baseman to walk home. Cordero brought everyone else home with his three-run jack, part of a 12-run, 16-hit effort.

Austin Brice and Caleb Simpson combined to toss two scoreless innings to close the home team’s second straight win. Altogether, Worcester pitching allowed two hits and zero runs after Garcia’s homer to start the night.

The WooSox continue the six-game homestand Saturday against the Rochester Red Wings at 4:05 p.m. Television coverage from Polar Park is on NESN+, while radio coverage starts live at 3:45 on 100 FM The Pike and the WooSox Radio Network. Ben Braymer (1-3, 7.25), who debuted with the Nationals at Fenway Park last year, goes for Rochester, while Worcester will send out an opener before Stephen Gonsalves (2-1, 4.07).