By Tiffany Williams –
Worcester Red Sox have now lost six of their first eleven games to start the season. Four of those losses have come against the Columbus Clippers, and on Saturday they’ll meet again when they play game five of this six-game homestand.
If anyone has been paying attention to this series, it’s hard not to see the quality of baseball that the Columbus Clippers have been playing and when asked Friday night about the Clippers, WooSox Manager Chad Tracy said “I’ve been fairly impressed with their quality of at bat.”
In the first four games of this series, Columbus batters are hitting .346 (55-for-159) with 9 HR & 44 runs scored while the WooSox are hitting .180 (23-for-128) with 2 HR & 10 runs scored. Clippers pitchers are 4-0 with a 2.50 ERA (10 ER in 36 IP) compared to WooSox pitchers at 0-4, 9.25 (37 ER in 36 IP).
Following Friday night’s game WooSox Manager Chad Tracy said, “I think there has been periods where we haven’t executed pitches as we should or could.”
Brandon Walter will start for Worcester on Saturday. In his first start of the season on April 1, he threw for 3.1, allowing 7-5 including one homer, and struck out one. In his second start of the season on April 9th, he threw for 5.2, allowing just four hits and struck out four.
Following Friday night’s game Andrew Parker from Beyond The Monster asked WooSox Manager Chad Tracy about Walter, and Tracy said “I just want him to do what he did the last time. He filled up the zone, ran into trouble in the first inning, escaped it, completely filled up the zone and pitched into the sixth. So more of that and Walt’s got a lot of action on his pitches so if he can locate and be in the zone maybe we get some weak contact outs which is exactly what we got in Buffalo. That would be great and pitching at least into the middle part of the game and allowing us to get some of the bullpen guys out of there in the right spots would be awesome.”
Saturday at Polar Park is Jackie Robinson Day, and it’s also Bark in the Park, when fans can bring their dogs to the Simply Orthodontics Berm and 8th Hill and participate in a pre-game doggy parade on the field.
Following Saturday’s game is a Sunset Catch on the Field, presented by Dunkin’. First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 4:05 PM.
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