Worcester Red Sox Open Series Against Durham Bulls With 7-4 Win

By Stephen Ur –

The Worcester Red Sox hosted the first game of a six-game series against the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, at Polar Park in Worcester, MA on Tuesday night They were coming off a series split against the Syracuse Mets of which they won the final game 8-4.

The game was part of the team’s first ever “School Vacation Week at Polar Park” as this was the first time in WooSox were at home during spring break for Worcester Public Schools. They have different events planned for each gameday, including postgame player autographs on Wednesday, Teacher Appreciation Day on Thursday, WooU College Night and the first UniBank Fireworks show on Friday with an appearance by Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, UniBank Women in Sports Day on Saturday and Autism Acceptance Day on Sunday.

The first run came from the Bulls with one out in the top of the first inning as Kameron Minser scored from third on an RBI from Dominic Smith on a single to left field. Rob Refsnyder homered to left field with two outs in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1.

With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Dalton Guthrie hit his first home run as a member of the WooSox, a three-run homer to left field, to give the Sox a 4- 1 lead. Guthrie would continue his impressive outing in the bottom of the fourth as he singled to center field, allowing Jamie Westbrook to score. The Red Sox extended their lead to 5-1.

Alex Jackson would cut into the Worcester lead with two outs in the top of the fifth with a three-run home run to center field, the score now reading 5-4. That would be the end of the night for pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa, who pitched five innings, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out five.

Westbrook would score for the third time tonight, this time from second base, on what was initially a deep hit to right field from Eddy Alverez, but Alverez would be thrown out trying to take second. The very next batter, Chase Meidroth, would homer to left field to grow the lead for the WooSox back to three. The homer was the third for the team on the night at that point.

Zack Kelly came in the eighth inning and recorded the final six outs to clinch a 7-4 win for Worcester to open the series against Durham. The WooSox and Bulls will play the second game of the series tomorrow after at Polar Park. First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. ET.