WooSox Drop Series Opener to RailRiders, 8-4
MOOSIC, PA –– Nick Sogard homered and Luis Guerrero notched four strikeouts in two scoreless innings of relief, but the Worcester Red Sox (10-11)/(45-51) lost 8-4 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (9-12)/(52-43) on Tuesday night in the first of seven games at PNC Field in Moosic, Pennsylvania. Nick Sogard put Worcester
MOOSIC, PA –– Nick Sogard homered and Luis Guerrero notched four strikeouts in two scoreless innings of relief, but the Worcester Red Sox (10-11)/(45-51) lost 8-4 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (9-12)/(52-43) on Tuesday night in the first of seven games at PNC Field in Moosic, Pennsylvania.
Nick Sogard put Worcester on the board in the first inning by blasting his 12th home run of the season into the WooSox bullpen in left field. For the switch hitter, it was his fourth from the right side of the plate and third in nine games against the RailRiders this year. However, the lead did not last long.
Nick Sogard has POP!
— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) July 23, 2024
With his 12th HR of the season, he's already one shy of his career high with 55 games to go
WooSox lead 1-0 heading to the bottom of the second in Scranton pic.twitter.com/MigJXYaeSK
Brad Keller started a bullpen game for Worcester and fired a perfect first inning while picking up a strikeout. Jorge Benitez entered on the mound to begin the second and immediately struggled with command. After walking the first two batters on 10 pitches, a double steal and wild pitch tied up the game. Following an RBI groundout, three of the next four batters reached on hits––including two doubles––to make it a 4-1 ballgame by the end of the inning.
Benitez rebounded in the third, tossing a scoreless frame before giving way to Naoyuki Uwasawa to begin the fourth. The right-hander quickly found himself in a bases loaded jam, allowing hits to the first two batters of the frame and walking the third. Brandon Lockridge’s RBI single made it a 5-1 RailRiders lead, and Agustin Ramirez’s two-run single gave the hosts a six-run advantage.
In the sixth, Ramirez got to Uwasawa again, driving home another run with an RBI single. Heading into the seventh, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre held a commanding 8-1 lead.
Since Sogard’s solo home run in the first inning, the WooSox offense struggled to get anything going. The team had just four hits, with Sogard and Mickey Gasper accounting for all four. Despite a quiet first six innings, the bats started to wake up in the seventh.
With one out, Gasper picked up his third hit of the game and was followed by Nathan Hickey’s single to right, putting runners on first and second for Eddy Alvarez. After a wild pitch moved Gasper and Hickey into scoring position, Alvarez knocked them in with a double down the left field line, giving the WooSox some life. Chase Meidroth added to the scoring with an RBI single to right-center, cutting the RailRiders lead to four. Three was all Worcester scored in the frame as the game entered the seventh inning stretch with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre leading, 8-4.
Eddy Alvarez plates two with a double as part of a three-run seventh, and Scranton's lead is cut to 8-4 heading to the eighth pic.twitter.com/qC28DKbnoh
— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) July 24, 2024
Next up out of the WooSox ‘pen was Luis Guerrero, who allowed one hit and picked up two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh. The following inning, Worcester threatened to score again, loading the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. With Hickey looking for a game-altering hit, RailRiders reliever Jack Neely notched a big strikeout to escape the frame unscathed.
After Guerrero added two more strikeouts in a scoreless eighth, Worcester entered the ninth trailing by four with 9-1-2 due up. However, the bats went down quietly as the WooSox dropped game one of their seven-game set with the RailRiders, 8-4. Former WooSox Thomas Pannone (W, 5-8) notched his fifth victory of the year but first with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while Benitez (L, 2-3) was handed the loss.
Vaughn Grissom continued his rehab assignment with Worcester on Tuesday night, batting third as the designated hitter. The 23-year-old was held hitless in four at-bats.
The WooSox and RailRiders will continue their seven-game series with a doubleheader on Wednesday beginning at 5:05 p.m. at PNC Field. Game one will showcase a pitching matchup between Justin Hagenman (1-3, 5.51) for Worcester and Edgar Barclay (3-8, 7.33) for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In game two, Chase Shugart (4-1, 4.11) gets the start for the WooSox opposite a bullpen game for the RailRiders. Radio coverage for the doubleheader begins at 5:00 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network.