Muñoz Hit Streak Up to 19 in Loss at Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, P.A. — The Worcester Red Sox (37-33) were shut out for just the third time this season on Sunday afternoon’s series finale, as three Lehigh Valley IronPigs (32-40) hurlers combined on a two-hitter en route to a 3-0 victory and to winning the final four in the seven-game set at Coca-Cola Park.

20-year-old Victor Vargas was the star of the day for the Pigs, as he was promoted from Clearwater in the morning and made his first career appearance above the Low-A level of the minors. He proceeded to toss five scoreless innings to earn the victory.

The WooSox turned to recently-promoted Enmanuel De Jesus (0-1) to make his first Triple-A start, and the left-hander was strong in five innings of work. De Jesus allowed two runs: a solo home run to Darick Hall to center that was 101 miles-per-hour off the bat in the second, followed by a Jorge Bonifacio blast to a similar spot in the third.

Those two early runs were all that Vargas (1-0) needed. The young righty allowed just two singles, while earning three strikeouts and issuing just a pair of walks.

Lehigh Valley added another in the sixth against Worcester reliever Kevin McCarthy, who got an out but then hit Matt Vierling with an 0-1 pitch. Daniel Brito was up next, and he grounded a ball inside third base for an RBI triple to make it a 3-0 game.

One of the WooSox' two knocks came from Yairo Munoz, who extended his hit streak to 19 games—a stretch that continues to span the entire month of July.

Mauricio Lloverra and Jakob Hernandez combined for four innings of scoreless and hitless relief, with Hernandez closing out the IronPigs’ fifth win of the seven-game series by earning his first Triple-A save.

The WooSox are off Monday and begin a six-game series Tuesday against the Buffalo Bisons at 6:35 p.m. at Polar Park. Television coverage is on NESN+, while radio coverage starts live at 6:15 p.m. on 100 FM The Pike and the WooSox Radio Network.