By Paul Vangos –
On Saturday Afternoon, the 13-11 Syracuse Mets faced off against their fellow 13-11 host Worcester Red Sox at Polar Park. This was the fifth game of the current six-game series in Worcester, with the two sides splitting the first four games. On this chilly late April day, Syracuse sent Bryce Conley and his 5.40 ERA out to the mound, while the WooSox put recently promoted Isaac Coffey on the bump to make another one of his first starts in Triple-A Ball.
In the first two innings, both starters made it through scoreless, with Coffey retiring each Met batter he faced. In the third, things became extremely interesting in the Woo. It appeared as though Jackson Cluff had roped a lead-off triple for Syracuse that deflected off right-fielder Kristian Campbell’s fully outstretched glove, putting a man on 3rd with nobody out. However, in what certainly has to be a first, the Mets made an error on their lineup card: they switched the batting orders of Cluff and Ben Rortvedt, which resulted in an automatic out for Rortvedt! The best part for the Sox is that Cluff’s triple did not count, as he was forced to return to the plate and hit again with one out and nobody on. This time, he hit a routine flyout to Center. In the bottom half of the Third, Worcester loaded the bases with nobody out, but were unable to capitalize as Conley struck out Anthony Seigler and Allan Castro before forcing a groundout from Tsung-Che Cheng.
After previously leaving 7 runners on base in the first three innings, the WooSox finally broke through in the Fourth, courtesy of a Mickey Gasper RBI groundout. Despite this 1-0 lead, Worcester still stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning. Angel Bastardo continued the good pitching for the Sox after Coffey’s three scoreless innings, holding the Mets hitless for the fourth and the fifth.
In the Sixth Inning, after back-to-back walks given up by Syracuse reliever Tanner Witt, Kristian Campbell drove home a run via an RBI single, chasing Witt in the process. On the first pitch from new reliever Ryan Lambert, Worcester executed a double-steal with Gasper and Campbell, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Anthony Seigler plated one runner on an unusual 4-6-3 play that resulted in a single out–his line drive deflected from the second baseman to the shortstop, who threw him out at first, but nonetheless the Sox now possessed a 3-0 lead at the end of the Sixth.
After another 1-2-3 inning from the Mets, who were only able to muster 4 hits off of Worcester’s stellar pitching staff, the WooSox chased Lambert after a Jason Delay RBI single in the 7th. Subsequently, new strong-armed reliever Alex Carrillo was met with a Nick Sogard double that brought home two more runs, leading to a 6-0 ballgame after Seven.
Worcester reliever Kyle Keller, who had pitched a scoreless Seventh, ran into some trouble in the Eighth Inning: a Ben Rortvedt single, followed by two wild pitches, a fielding error from Vinny Capra, and a Ji Hwan Bae single got Syracuse on the board with two runs. It is worth noting that due to the Capra error, both runs were unearned, meaning that all five WooSox pitchers combined for zero earned runs on the day.
In an interesting turn of events in the Bottom of the Eighth, Syracuse, who had already used 4 pitchers on the day, ran out of available arms. Facing a 6-2 deficit, the Mets sent out Catcher (yes, a position player!) Onix Vega to pitch. Predictably, Worcester opened the floodgates: Vega was hammered for five hits and three runs, with RBIs from Jason Delay, Mickey Gasper, and Nate Eaton. To finish the game for Worcester, Tommy Kahnlee pitched a scoreless Ninth inning, ending the contest in a 9-2 Red Sox victory.
Towards the conclusion of Saturday’s game, WooSox manager Chad Tracy was nowhere to be seen in the dugout. Eventually, news broke that the Boston Red Sox in the MLB were cleaning house: they fired manager Alex Cora, and named Tracy as interim manager. It’s a much needed switchup for the BoSox, who are currently 10-17 and have drastically underperformed so far in 2026.
To say that the pitching battle was lopsided would be an understatement: Worcester pitchers gave up a total of 4 hits, and both Met runs came off an error. Angel Bastardo earned his first Triple-A Victory in his second appearance for the WooSox, pitching two hitless innings with 2 strikeouts. Isaac Coffey had a solid starting performance, giving up 1 hit in 3 innings to go along with 5 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Syracuse’s Bryce Conley was given the loss despite 4 innings pitched and only one run given up. The big story for the Mets is that they allowed 13 Worcester players to reach base on balls, which even for Triple-A is outrageous.
Worcester moved to 14-11 with their victory on Saturday, while Syracuse fell to 13-12 heading into Sunday’s finale. The best the Mets can do is even the series at three apiece, while the WooSox can take it outright with a win tomorrow (the 26th). Stay posted on NewsTalk New England for more on the WooSox throughout the season!