Worcester: W, 4-0 (BOX SCORE)
In yet another bullpen game, the WooSox kept Buffalo (Blue Jays AAA) off the scoreboard despite using six pitchers. Everyone was in lockstep, and the Bison managed just three hits on the night. The WooSox matched that total just in their extra base hits, and Nathan Hickey hit his third home run of the season out of the nine-hole to get Worcester on the board and in the lead for good.
Portland: L, 5-6 (BOX SCORE)
Just as the Sea Dogs walked off the Yard Goats (Rockies AA) earlier in the week, this time, it was the home team’s
turn to capitalize on a blown save. Michael Sansone had a very tough second inning but recovered well and kept it a tie game through 5. This was thanks to Brooks Brannon and Miguel Bleis each going yard in the first inning.
Now, I’m not saying that Bleis is suddenly going to become an organizational factor again, as this game pulled him only just barely back over the Mendoza line, but it’s good to know that revered power still exists somewhere. There was no power, or even much contact, from either side to speak of for the vast majority of this game; after no scores from the third inning all the way to the eighth, Max Ferguson had an RBI knock with two outs in the top of the ninth, and then Cooper Adams got walked off by allowing two runs. The six-game series in Connecticut was a split 3-3 and four were decided by one run.
Greenville: W, 12-10 (BOX SCORE)
After losing eight consecutive games including five with Bowling Green (Rays High-A) in town, the Drive finally got in the W column despite giving up ten runs on fourteen hits. The offense was aided by some usual suspects who remained hot even through the losing streak; Mason White hit his eighth home run of the season and Justin Gonazales had his sixth, a three-run shot to put Greenville up 12-3. Bowling Green would threaten to bring this drought to an end and get this to within two runs, but on Sunday, a dozen runs was enough to come away with the W.
Salem: : L, 5-6 (BOX SCORE)
The Drive got walked off by Fredericksburg (Nationals A) in the series finale, in part due to allowing ten walks on the afternoon and three in that defining ninth inning on the way one of those runners putting the game away, but it wasn’t all bad: Enddy Azocar, the 19-year-old outfielder and leadoff hitter for the RidgeYaks, had a four-hit day as his batting average re-approaches .300 and accounted for the team’s only stolen base of the day. Still, the team stranded a dozen men and they suffered a Sunday loss.
Have a merry Monday. And, special shout out to the first person to solidify me as a lifelong Sox fan, my father, who turns 65 today. Happy birthday Dad!
