By Darryl Harding Sr-
A cool, clear and crisp day creates a consummate climate for an MiLB baseball contest. The Worcester Red Soxs face the Toledo Mud Hens at prestigious Polar Park after winning two, then dropping two games in this series.
Woosox began the game with right-hander Justin Hagenman, stepping to the rubber with a 4-5 record and 78 Ks under his belt. Hagenman had a rough start, surrendering three runs, due to back to back homers by 2B Andrew Navigato (.285) and 1B Bligh Madris batting clean up.
Settling in Hagenman completed five innings but relinquished an additional run in the fourth, off a CF Oscar Mercado RBI single. Tossing 43 out of 74 in the zone with 4 strikeouts, Hagenman finished the day with a 4-0 deficit.
Lately struggling to produce Worcester bats seemed to continue to falter against a Mud Hens “bullpen by committee” style of pitching adopted today. Toledo pitchers righty Mason Englert, lefty PJ Poulin and righty Garret Hill all pitched two innings consecutively leaving the Woosox down, disadvantaged and desperately destitute.
Reliever Naoyuki Uwasawa, a right-hander from Matsudo, Japan replaced Hagenman and yielded no additional runs in the 6th and 7th innings. Mud Hens RHP Devin Sweet took control in the 7th with more of the same, posting a Woosox goose egg.
RHP Alex Speas, now on the mound for the Sox, had location woes and granted more to the Mud Hens, increasing the score to 6-0. Spelling Sweet Toledo brought in righty Miguel Diaz and the results were consistent, Worcester with only three hits, remaining unsuccessfully scoreless for the entire game.
Quickly removing Speas, after walking three Mud Hens in one inning, LHP Bailey Horn skillfully retired all three batters with strikeouts. Unfortunately the Woosox stared into a 6-0 hole with only three outs to seek a comeback, things looked bleak.
Club manager Chad Tracy remarked concerning the Woosox offensive slump, “as hot as we played for a three week stretch… the big issue right now is we’re not swinging the bats great. We have all the ability to do it, and will come out of it but we’re putting very little pressure offensively… quick innings, easy outs and we gotta get that right. We are one of the best offensive teams in the league, we’re just not swinging the bats great right now.”
Continuing to grind, Woosox finished up the series Sunday at 105pm. With three weeks left, Worcester ventures to get back on track to end the season strong.