Latest Kavadas Blast Powers WooSox to 4-1 Win

BUFFALO, NY – The Worcester Red Sox (18-20) put together a complete team effort to hold off the Buffalo Bisons (22-16) in a 4-1 win on Saturday afternoon at Sahlen Field. Homers from Niko Kavadas and Mark Contreras gave Worcester a 3-0 lead in the fifth, and four WooSox pitchers combined to hold Buffalo’s top-ranked offense to a single run on five hits and one walk.

Kavadas’ ninth long ball of the season started the fifth inning against Beau Sulser (L, 0-2), and highlighted a 3-for-4 day at the plate (his second three-hit game of the season). After laying off a first-pitch cutter, Kavadas obliterated a belt-high change up 423 feet to right center. The burly lefty held the pose on his follow through as the ball soared toward Worcester’s bullpen, and launched his OPS to a league-best 1.180. Kavadas will take an eight-game hit streak into Sunday’s series finale, with homers in three of his last four games.

Worcester wasn’t satisfied with a 1-0 lead, especially against a Bisons offense averaging well over six runs per game. The next batter was Dalton Guthrie, who smacked a double to right center that hopped over the wall, likely costing him a three-bagger. With Guthrie at second, Mark Contreras showed some major pop with a two-run shot to center. His first homer of the season came on a 2-2 fastball, and sailed 401 feet to the base of the batter’s eye to give Worcester a 3-0 advantage. Contreras also singled in the ninth to finish 2-for-4.

Jamie Westbrook would later add a sac fly in the eighth, which was more than enough for WooSox pitching on a drizzly Saturday in Buffalo. In just his second appearance since being acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, Bailey Horn held Buffalo hitless (1 BB, 1 K) in a two-inning spot start before his former Auburn University teammate Richard Fitts took over.

Fitts (W, 3-1) surrendered the lone Bisons run on a two-out RBI double by Spencer Horwitz in the fifth, but delivered 4.1 effective innings with one run allowed on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. He left with two runners on base in the sixth after a Will Robertson single and a Cam Eden walk, but Lucas Luetge (LIT-key) induced a flyout and a groundout to end the threat.

Hard-throwing Ryan Zeferjahn (ZEFFER-john) earned his first Triple-A save, recording the final six outs of the ballgame without surrendering a hit. He walked one, struck out three, and ended the game by starting a nifty 1-6-3 double play after snaring a Horwitz grounder behind his back.

The WooSox and Bisons conclude the series on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. in Buffalo. Pregame coverage is scheduled to begin at 12:45 p.m. on the 98.9 NASH Icon WooSox Radio Network. Worcester will begin a 12-game homestand on Tuesday at Polar Park, hosting first-place Scranton next week before a six-game series against defending champion Norfolk.