-By Darryl Harding Sr
A beautiful day for MiLB baseball welcomes the Toledo Mud Hens to battle the Worcester Redsox at Polar Park. Sixty nine degrees at first pitch, the Woosox look to tie the series at one game apiece.
Josh Winckowski, right handed starter for the Woosox, came out firing a ninety five mph four seam fastball and breezed through the initial two innings without incident. Unfortunately two offspeed pitches in the third were taken yard in back to back jacks by Toledo CF Brewer Hicklen and 2B Lee Hao-Yu.
Having an even more effective start Mud Hens righty Wilkel Hernandez spun through five scoreless innings. Although allowing back to back walks in the third, Hernandez weaved his way out of the potential Woosox scoring threat.
With the score remaining 2-0, Winckowski settled in completing five innings before being relieved. Tossing sixty eight pitches, fourty one for strikes, Winckowski was responsible for the two earned runs.
Desperately attempting to thwart any additional runs, Worcester reluctantly brought RHP Zack Kelly to the hill. Kelly, optioned from the majors last week, ran into some trouble recently against the Chicago Whitesox.
Kelly hurled through the fifth inning unscathed and the Woosox searched for some offensive production against Toledos’ southpaw reliever Bailey Horn. Hernandez finished the day striking out four with sixty seven pitches thrown.
Managing to quell any Woosox offensive onslaught, Horn meandered across innings six and seven and left Worcester scoreless. Quickly back to top form, Kelly skillfully blasted pass all batters in the seventh, striking out the side.
RHP Austin Adam’s sauntered to the mound in the eighth spelling a flawlessly Kelly. Adams followed suit striking out the first two batters and after three consecutive walks to Mud Hens RF Riley Unroe, 1B Bligh Madris and DH Jahmai Jones, he retired the side.
With time fleeting Woosox approach the plate facing RHP Jordan Balazovic. A well deserved break came for the Sox in a Balazovic throwing error, which turned a routine out into a double for LF Corey Rosier.
Able to bolster a small string of hits, the Sox scored Rosier but fell short leaving two men stranded on base. Now 2-1 righty Nick Burdi comes in trying to freeze the Mud Hens bats and give the Woosox a chance at a last inning comeback win.
Lefty PJ Poulin, the Toledo closer and native of Massachusetts, gave up an immediate double to 1B Nathan Hickey. The promise of a ninth inning knock was squashed by three outs in succession.
“We’re going through a rough patch,” commented Chad Tracy Woosox club manager, ‘I thought we pitched well… ordinarily if you give up two in nine innings you like your chances to win the game. We’re going through it right now and we’ve gotta find our way out of it.”
MiLB action continues tomorrow at 6:05 pm in the third game of this Woo Sox homestand series.