Worcester Red Sox Blow Out Norfolk Tides In Opening Game of Series
By Stephen Ur –
The Worcester Red Sox opened the series against the Norfolk Tides at Polar Park in Worcester, MA on Tuesday evening. The WooSox were coming off a series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders in which they took four of the seven games. The series against Norfolk was the second of two consecutive series at home.
Norfolk scored the first run of the game with one out in the top of the first inning as a double from Heston Kjerstad allowed Connor Norby to score from second. Worcester would respond back in a big way in the bottom of the first as Emmanel Valdez hit a two-run shot to right field, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead with one out.
Daniel Johnson would score with one out in the top of the second to tie the game for the Tides as Shayne Fontana grounded into a force out. The Sox would break the tie in the top of the third as Valdez hit his second home run of the night, a solo shot to center field. Eddy Alvarez hit his fourth home run of the year in what would be a three-run fourth to extend the Sox lead to 6-2.
They would extend their lead to 7-2 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth off an infield error by Norfolk that allowed Bobby Dalbec to score. A bases-loaded walk allowed Niko Kevadas to score, making it an 8-2 game in favor of the WooSox. They would added another run before the end of the inning, taking a 9-2 lead after five.
The bats kept swinging and the balls kept leaving the park as Nathan Hickey hit his fifth home run of the season, the WooSox’s fourth of the night, a two-run homer to right field. This would extend their lead to 11-3 in the bottom of the sixth.
The domination continued in the same inning. With one out, Eddy Alvarez hit a three-run home run to right field to extend the lead to 14-3 in favor of the Sox.
In the end, the WooSox went on to a win by a final score of 20-4. The two teams will meet again tomorrow evening for the second game of the series. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. ET.
