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Caleb Hamilton Homers in Debut, WooSox Suffer First Loss of 2023

Worcester Falls 16-6, Walter Makes First Start of Season
April 1, 2023

WORCESTER, M.A. — The Worcester Red Sox (1-1) suffered their first loss of the 2023 season, a 16-6 defeat against the Syracuse Mets (1-1) at Polar Park. A crowd of 8,402 attended the first Saturday game of the season, including 4,000 Worcester School student tickets purchased by Fontaine Brothers. After

WORCESTER, M.A. — The Worcester Red Sox (1-1) suffered their first loss of the 2023 season, a 16-6 defeat against the Syracuse Mets (1-1) at Polar Park. A crowd of 8,402 attended the first Saturday game of the season, including 4,000 Worcester School student tickets purchased by Fontaine Brothers.

After Brett Baty opened the Syracuse scoring in the top of the first, clubbing a solo home run to center, Worcester’s offense continued its power show. Caleb Hamilton's first at-bat in the Red Sox organization resulted in a long ball, a two-run shot to center to put the home team up 2-1.

Hamilton’s first MLB hit was a home run last season for the Minnesota Twins, and his swing on Saturday marked the fourth homer in two days for Worcester.

In his third Triple-A start for the WooSox and first of 2023, Brandon Walter went 3.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. Former WooSox Jonathan Arauz put Syracuse back on top in the third with a two-run single.

An inning later, Walter departed with two on, making way for Jake Thompson. A walk loaded the bases, Mark Vientos was hit by a pitch to score one, and one batter later, Arauz made it a four-RBI day with another two-run knock to make it 6-2 Mets.

The WooSox got one back in the bottom of the fourth, an inning that began with a leadoff double from Niko Goodrum. Two batters later, Marcus Wilson ripped a 110 mile-per-hour RBI single to left. After a Nick Sogard single, Greg Allen smacked a line drive to right, but Syracuse’s Khalil Lee made a diving grab to keep Worcester from further damage.

A day after the WooSox hung 11 runs on the Mets, the road team’s offense returned the favor. Jose Peraza pushed across a run in the fifth on an RBI single to put Syracuse up 7-3.

Worcester delivered a three-run rally in the seventh on an RBI single by Allen and a pair of run-scoring doubles from Enmanuel Valdez and Jorge Alfaro. The swing from Alfaro gave him his first RBI in the Red Sox organization.

The Mets would add nine more runs over their final four offensive innings. In the sixth, against WooSox reliever Cam Booser, Syracuse got runs on a Ronny Mauricio two-run double and grand slam from Baty. Lee homered in the eighth off Oddanier Mosqueda, and in the ninth, Francisco Alvarez and Vientos went back-to-back to make it a 16-run, 20-hit day for the Mets.

The WooSox conclude the three-game opening homestand on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. against the Syracuse Mets. On the mound, Norwith Gudino faces Jose Butto. Television coverage on NESN+, while radio coverage is live at 12:45 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network.