By Darryl Harding Sr –
A bright clear 89⁰ scorcher of a day begins this Worcester Redsox homestand facing the Rochester Red Wings. The first of six games has RHP Jason Alexander taking the mound for the Sox.
With 65 strikeouts and a 4-4 record after 16 games started, Alexander rocketed through the first 4 innings, his sinker averaging about 92 mph. Besides one errant sinker that hung up in the zone, hit for a 409’ homer by RF Travis Blankenhorn, Alexander pitched beautifully.
Blankenhorn’s homer in the 2nd was his 17th of the year, surprisingly 7 of them were hit here in Polar Park. LHP Andrew Alverez (3.86 ERA) steps to the hill for the Red Wings with 60 strikeouts under his belt after 15 starts.
A four seamer regularly reaching 90+ mph, Alvarez seemed to struggle a bit with his control, allowing the Woosox to score in the 1st inning. 3B Bobby Dalbec hit a sacrifice fly that scored SS Chase Meidroth.
Alvarez managed to settle in and after 4 innings the score remained tied 1-1. Alexander ran into trouble once the pitch count climbed to 70+ and Rochester was able to chalk up another run on a CF Dylan Crews groundout bringing LF Alex Call across the plate.
Still a close match with the Red Wings slight advantage of 2-1. LHP Joely Rodriguez came in to relieve Alexander after 82 pitches, 48 for strikes. Although Woosox accumulated 6 hits, Alvarez held them to only one run scored in 5 innings.
LHP Joe La Sorsa took the rubber in the 6th for Rochester and in the 7th gave up a double on a line to DH Niko Kavadas that was inches away from leaving the park. Unfortunately Worcester could not capitalize and RHP Eduardo Salazar entered for the Red Wings to get out of the inning.
Rodriguez threw a scoreless 6th and RHP Chase Shugart spun a scoreless 7th and 8th to leave the Woosox in striking distance with 6 outs left. Salazar retired all batters faced in the 8th and ushered for the save.
“We did a good job, we kept putting up zeroes,” said Woosox manager Chad Tracy, “the chances we had, we just couldn’t cash.” Stringing hits together plague the Woosox in this contest.
Desperately trying to hold the Red Wings in check, LHP Lucas Luetge woefully relinquished a sacrifice fly from Call, scoring 3B Brady House. Luetge 9th inning relief efforts proved disastrous when Crews reached on a fielder’s choice that brought C Drew Millas home.
Adding an additional run Woosox now faced a 5-1 deficit. A crooked number produced by the Red Wings in the 9th spelled doom for the Sox and RHP Rico Garcia finished for Rochester, the Red Wings taking this 1st homestand game.
The Red Wings have now won 6 games in a row. Woosox will attempt to break that streak in an afternoon game Wednesday at 12:15pm at Polar Park.