WooSox’ Bats Held Dormant in 4-2 Loss to Toledo
WORCESTER, MA –– Jason Alexander was solid over five innings, but the Worcester Red Sox (30-23)/(65-63) dropped the third game of their six-game set to the Toledo Mud Hens (25-29)/(60-68) by a final score of 4-2. With Columbus’ 5-4 win over Gwinnett, the WooSox fell to six games back with
WORCESTER, MA –– Jason Alexander was solid over five innings, but the Worcester Red Sox (30-23)/(65-63) dropped the third game of their six-game set to the Toledo Mud Hens (25-29)/(60-68) by a final score of 4-2. With Columbus’ 5-4 win over Gwinnett, the WooSox fell to six games back with 22 games to play.
Thursday night was a classic pitcher’s duel between the WooSox and Mud Hens.
Jason Alexander got the start for Worcester and was excellent in five innings of work. The right-hander retired the side in order twice and finished with a line of 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K––with the lone mistake coming in the second inning. Ahead in the count 0-2, Alexander left a slider up in the zone and Eddys Leonard deposited it onto the berm in left to give the Mud Hens a 1-0 lead.
Toledo’s starting pitcher, Lael Lockhart, was equally impressive, hurling five shutout innings for the Mud Hens. With Worcester averaging 6.1 runs per game in their last 18 contests, Lockhart held the WooSox’ high-powered offense to just two hits over the course of his outing.
Over the same 18-game span, Worcester’s bullpen has been equally as dominant as the offense, pitching to a 2.72 ERA with 10.1 K/9 in their last 76.1 innings. The first two relievers–– Cam Booser and Bailey Horn––continued the WooSox’ ‘pen’s stretch of excellence on Thursday night, preventing Toledo from adding on in the sixth and seventh innings.
Booser was first out of the bullpen for the WooSox and allowed one hit while striking out the side. The southpaw began a rehab assignment with Worcester on Thursday after being placed on the 15-Day Injured List by the Red Sox on August 14 with left elbow inflammation. Horn followed with two strikeouts of his own in a perfect seventh inning.
In the WooSox half of the seventh, the offense finally woke up.
With one out, Worcester loaded the bases for Enmanuel Valdez, who worked a walk to tie up the game at one. Vaughn Grissom followed by lining a 2-1 fastball to left for a sacrifice fly to give the WooSox a 2-1 lead.
To begin the eighth inning, Worcester went to their third lefty of the night in Zach Penrod who walked two of the first three batters he faced. After a groundout put men on second and third with two outs, Penrod was relieved by Yohan Ramirez who looked to get the WooSox out of the inning. But the right-hander left a sweeper up in the zone that Andrew Navigato pulled onto the berm for a three-run go-ahead home run to put Toledo ahead, 4-2.
With six outs remaining, the WooSox offense went down quietly, striking out four times while only managing one baserunner. It was only their fourth loss in their last 19 games, but a crucial defeat as Worcester continues to chase the Columbus Clippers for the International League second half title.
Zach Penrod (L, 3-2) was handed his second loss of the year while Devin Sweet (W, 8-6) earned the victory for Toledo.
The WooSox and Mud Hens will continue their six-game series at 6:45 p.m. on Friday night at Polar Park. Hunter Dobbins will make his Triple-A debut after he was promoted to Worcester on August 22. Toledo will send Bryan Sammons (6-5, 4.18) opposite Dobbins.The game will be broadcasted live on NESN+ and radio coverage begins at 6:25 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network.