Worcester: W, 8-5 (BOX SCORE)
We need to come up with a cool nickname for Allan Castro. Clutchstro? The Bull Runner? Because, he’s running those Bulls (Rays AAA) out of town the last couple of nights. After capturing the walk-off knock Tuesday, he was right back at it again on Wednesday with two home runs including a 7th-inning shot that turned the game on its head. The WooSox went into that seventh inning down 5-3 and never looked back after taking the lead. Castro’s home runs were aided by Tsung-Tse Cheng. Franklin Arias and Braiden
Ward really extending those innings in front of him; Ward had a three-hit night, Cheng had two, and Arias had two RBIs of his own.
Defensively, things weren’t pristine, as Blake Wehunt allowed four runs in his five innings of work and left the game in the loss column, but it was also far from a terrible start. The bullpen shoved. Seth Martinez struck the side out, Sam McWilliams again slammed the door to get his second save in just over a week, and overall this all led Durham to go 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. McWilliams is an interesting case for a “get him up to eat some innings” once the playoff spot is captured and the team is secure in their slot. A 2014 Phillies draft pick, the 6’7” 230 righty touches the high 90’s with his fastball, but, due to the 31-year-old imploding at the wrong times, he hasn’t touched an MLB roster. This includes being selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Royals in 2018 and promptly having an ERA of 15 in 7 appearances in Spring Training. Still, if you want a low-leverage, innings eater, mop-up guy for late September, look no further than McWilliams, who now hasn’t allowed a run since last month.
Another eyebrow-raiser is Romy’s OPS growing closer to that hallowed 1.000 mark in Triple-A and the possiblity of him being a guy that can help should one of these platoon guys need some rest. Gonzalez is hitting .462 in September. That’s good, right? It’s also good that the team has several “break glass in case of emergency” guys that are not a considerable step down from guys currently on the roster… or at least not guys the fanbase would collectively be quivering in fear to see on a line-up card. At least, not any more than usual…
