Polar Park Opens With Six Home Runs and a WooSox Win

WORCESTER, M.A. — In a game that featured six home runs—and one to every part of brand-new Polar Park—the Worcester Red Sox (3-4) christened their new home with an 8-5 win over the Syracuse Mets (1-6).

The game was won with offensive firepower, and it was the WooSox who came up with two big swings in the seventh to make the difference. Down 4-3, Josh Ockimey crushed a first pitch deep to right center for a two-run home run. Two pitches later, Jarren Duran capped off a two homer day with a solo shot above the Worcester wall to put the home team up 6-4, a lead that would hold for the final two innings.

Early on, Worcester starter Raynel Espinal had to push through a tough first inning. After taking a liner off the bat of Deivy Grullon, Espinal stayed in the game. A run scored on the play, and the right-hander would allow one more on a Khalil Lee single one batter later. The WooSox answered back in the second on a Marcus Wilson solo home run to right center, the first in Polar Park history and his second of the year. The 24-year old cracked 18 minor league homers during the 2019 season.

Both the WooSox and Mets did their part in opening the new ballpark with a bang. In the fifth, it was Syracuse’s Martin Cervenka who crushed a long ball to center. But Duran would answer moments later for his first long ball of the day, putting a 1-1 pitch well above the 22-foot high wall in right to tie the game at three. But once again, the Mets took the lead with a homer of their own: this time, a solo shot from Grullon against Espinal.

WooSox reliever Marcus Walden entered in the seventh, closing Espinal's line at six innings, four earned runs and five strikeouts. Walden earned the win, tossing a scoreless frame before the two-homer inning from Ockimey and Duran. Brandon Workman, the 2013 World Series Champion, entered one inning later up 6-4. His Worcester debut was an eventful one: Workman allowed one run and put the tying run on third base, but came up with a strikeout and a flyout to end the eighth.

Worcester added two more in the home half of the inning. Wilson reached first on a throwing error and sprinted to third after an errant pickoff attempt from Syracuse’s Daniel Zamora, aided by shouts of “three” in the WooSox dugout. Michael Gettys’ broken bat flare over a pulled in infield extended the lead to 7-5, marking his second hit of season. Ockimey made it 8-5 with a sac-fly to left to bring home Gettys. On the mound, Kaleb Ort threw a scoreless ninth to close out the first win in Polar Park history, his fourth outing without a run allowed to start the year.

The WooSox continue their inaugural six-game homestand at Polar Park on Wednesday against the Syracuse Mets at 6:35 p.m. Radio coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network. On the mound, Syracuse's Franklyn Kilomé (0-0, 6.00) faces Worcester’s Daniel Gossett (0-1, 12.00), who makes his first home start since returning from Tommy John Surgery in 2018.