By Stephen Ur –
The Worcester Red Sox returned to Polar Park to take on the Columbus Clippers in the first game of the six-game series at Polar Park in Worcsster, MA on Tuesday evening. They were coming off of a series win against the St Paul Saints last week, following their first homestand of the season against the Syracuse Mets of which they dropped two of three.
T.J. Sikkema was on the mound for Worcester to open up the series. He came into the game with a 19-17 career record with a 4.56 ERA.
Columbus got off to a roaring start as Petey Haplin hit a double on the first pitch of the game. A couple of batters later, Kody Huff tripled to center field, scoring the game’s first three runs in the top of the first inning. A fourth run came at the next at-bat as Huff scored on a single hit by Cooper Ingle.
Nick Sogard, who had eight RBIs in the St Paul series, singled on a ground ball to right field. He along with Mickey Gasper would score the WooSox’s first runs of the game on a ground ball single from Kristian Campbell, cutting the Columbus lead to 4-2.
Jacob Webb took the mound from to start the third inning as Sikkema was only scheduled to throw about 67 pitches – he threw 65. He finished giving up six hits, four earned runs and three strikeouts.
With the bases loaded in the top of the third inning, Valera singled to right field, allowing two more runs to score to make the score 6-2. On the very next pitch, a wild pitch by Webb allowed Dayan Frias to score, making it a 7-2 game.
Webb’s night came to an end, being replaced by Kyle Keller. Webb ended up pitching just 1.2 innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out two.
Down 7-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Vinny Capra homered to left field, the first home run for Worcester in the game, scoring both he and Matt Thaiss and making the score 7-6. Haplin would score for Columbus in the top of the seventh to re-extend the Clippers’ lead to 8-6.
Down 8-7 in the seventh, Thaiss knocked a three-run home run to right field to give the WooSox their first lead of the night at 10-8.
Columbus would score the final six runs in the game, including three in the ninth, to secure the victory.
The WooSox and Clippers will meet for their second game of the six-game series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. ET.