By Tiffany Williams –
WORCESTER — This is what a first-place Triple-A heavyweight fight looks like when nobody wants to give an inch.
The Worcester Red Sox and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders opened their six-game series at Polar Park with three straight games that felt less like early May baseball and more like a divisional stress test. Three games. Three wild finishes. Two Worcester wins. One Scranton/Wilkes-Barre survival job. Rehab stars. Yankees prospects. Red Sox prospects. Blown leads. Extra innings. Emergency pitching. Walk-off thunder. And through all of it, the WooSox kept showing the same thing over and over again.
They do not go quietly.
That is the identity taking shape at Polar Park right now. Not perfect. Not clean. Not always comfortable. But tough. Persistent. Annoying in the best possible baseball way. The WooSox can fall behind, give up a crooked inning, watch a lead disappear, burn through arms, and still find a way to force the next inning, the next at-bat, the next mistake. That is what separated them through the first three games of this series against the RailRiders, and that is why Worcester entered the weekend still sitting right in the thick of the International League East race.
Tuesday night set the tone immediately. Worcester and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre came in with identical 18-14 records, tied for first place in the International League East, and the WooSox wasted no time turning the opener into a statement. They beat the RailRiders 7-6 in a come-from-behind win that had exactly the kind of chaos you expect when the Red Sox and Yankees organizations collide one level below the majors.
The WooSox struck first against rehabbing New York Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon in the bottom of the first inning. Nick Sogard led off with a double down the left field line, and Mickey Gasper followed one out later by crushing a two-run home run onto the left field berm. Gasper, a former New York draft pick and Yankees farmhand from 2018 through 2023, made that moment sting a little more for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He entered the series as one of Worcester’s most productive bats, leading the club with five home runs and 25 RBI in his first 27 games.
Carlos Rodon gave the RailRiders length, but Worcester made him work and made him pay. He went 6.1 innings, allowed six runs, five earned, on seven hits, walked two and struck out four over 85 pitches. He was not involved in the decision, but the WooSox did enough damage to make sure this was not some smooth rehab cruise through Triple-A hitters. Worcester got to him, and that mattered.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre answered in the third inning, and it came from one of the biggest names in the Yankees system. Noah Song walked George Lombard Jr., hit Anthony Volpe, and then found himself locked into a long battle with Spencer Jones. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Spencer Jones unloaded for a three-run home run, his 11th of the season. For the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect, it was another reminder of the power that made him dangerous after a 35-homer season last year between Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Somerset.
That swing gave the RailRiders their first lead, but Worcester kept finding ways back. The WooSox cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third on a gift run after Spencer Jones dropped Nate Eaton’s routine fly ball in left field. Nate Eaton reached second base, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on a wild pitch. That was the kind of mistake Worcester feasted on all week. If the RailRiders left a door open, the WooSox walked right through it.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pushed the lead to 6-3 in the sixth inning on a two-run double by Payton Henry off Angel Bastardo. That could have been the punch that put Worcester away. It was not. Kristian Campbell answered in the bottom half by launching a 423-foot solo home run over the left-center field wall. That blast was more than a run. It was a momentum siren. Campbell came into the game hitting .393 over his previous eight games played, and the home run raised his average to a season-high .291.
Then came the seventh. Allan Castro walked. Vinny Capra singled. Tsung-Che Cheng beat out a bunt single. Bases loaded. Nobody out. That is when Worcester started squeezing the RailRiders. Jason Delay brought home Castro with a sacrifice fly. Nick Sogard walked for his league-leading 30th walk of the season. Nate Eaton then grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Vinny Capra and tied the game at 6-6. Capra’s run mattered too. He was second in the league with 29 runs scored, and once again Worcester’s speed and pressure were part of the answer.
The winning push came in the eighth. Kristian Campbell led off with a ringing double off the Worcester Wall in right. One out later, Allan Castro drove him home with a ground ball single up the middle. Castro had now driven in a run in six straight games, eight RBI total across that stretch. That is clutch production. That is consistency. That is the kind of lower-order pressure that makes a lineup dangerous.
Tommy Kahnle closed it in the ninth, and he did it with more than just his arm. He snared a comebacker to cut down the potential tying run at the plate for the second out, then ended the game with a strikeout. Kahnle earned his second save and lowered his ERA to 2.61. Kyle Keller earned the win with two hitless innings of relief and had allowed just one earned run over his previous 9.1 innings.
The WooSox won the opener and stepped alone into first place.
Then Wednesday punched them in the mouth.
The second game started Wednesday morning and dragged into mid-afternoon through light rain, ending in a 9-7 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre win in 10 innings. It was another see-saw game, another reminder that this series was not going to settle down, and another long afternoon that tested Worcester’s bullpen and situational execution.
Boston Red Sox reliever Justin Slaten made the start for Worcester on his injury rehab assignment. He had been on Boston’s injured list since April 5 with a right oblique strain and had started his rehab at Double-A Portland with one scoreless inning. He gave Worcester almost the same exact line Wednesday. One inning. One hit. No runs. One walk. Two strikeouts. Eighteen pitches, 11 for strikes. The only hit was a 26 mph infield single by Yanquiel Fernandez with two outs.
For Boston, that was a positive. For Worcester, it was the beginning of a bullpen game that would get much heavier by the end.
The WooSox again jumped early. For the sixth time in eight games, Worcester scored in the first inning, this time on a solo home run by Nate Eaton. In the fourth, Nathan Hickey gave the WooSox more cushion with a two-run homer into the seats atop the Worcester Wall, scoring Anthony Seigler and making it 3-0.
At that point, Worcester looked positioned to control the game.
Then Yanquiel Fernandez took over.
Erik Rivera, promoted from Double-A Portland the day before, made his WooSox and Triple-A debut in relief of Justin Slaten. After walking the first two batters he faced, Rivera escaped the jam with help from a line drive double play to Nick Sogard and a caught stealing by catcher Mickey Gasper. He kept Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scoreless until leaving with two men on in the fifth.
Jacob Webb entered, and the game changed. Spencer Jones hit an RBI double. Then Yanquiel Fernandez crushed a three-run home run to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 4-3 lead. Fernandez would finish 4-for-5 with a single, double, two home runs and five RBI. That is not just a good day. That is a one-man wrecking crew.
Worcester still answered. In the bottom of the fifth, Nick Sogard doubled and Mickey Gasper blasted his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot that put the WooSox back in front. But the RailRiders tied it in the seventh, and by the ninth, the game belonged again to Fernandez. With the score tied 5-5, he hit his second home run over the Worcester Wall, a two-run shot that gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 7-5 lead.
Even then, Worcester did not fold. In the bottom of the ninth, Braiden Ward ripped an RBI double down the first base line to score Matt Thaiss. Nick Sogard then lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Nathan Hickey and tying the game at 7-7. Ward ended up stranded at third base, and the game went to extra innings.
That missed chance was brutal. Worcester had dragged itself back from the edge again, but it did not finish the job.
In the 10th, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre struck quickly. With Oswaldo Cabrera starting on second base, Ali Sanchez dropped down a bunt single and Ernesto Martinez Jr. followed with a two-run double to put the RailRiders ahead 9-7. Worcester loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half, but the inning died on a strikeout and two pop outs.
That is the kind of loss that hurts because the opportunity was sitting right there. Bases loaded. No outs. Home crowd waiting to erupt. One swing, one ball in the gap, maybe even one deep fly ball, and the story changes. Instead, Dylan Coleman retired the final three WooSox hitters and earned his first save. Bradley Hanner got the win. Wyatt Olds took the loss after allowing four runs, three earned, over two innings.
The series was tied. The division was tied. The pressure was back on.
Then Thursday turned into the strangest, longest, wildest game in WooSox history.
For the third straight game, Worcester and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre traded punches at Polar Park. This time, it went 12 innings. Four hours and three minutes. The longest game by innings in Worcester Red Sox history. And somehow, in the end, the winning pitcher was Nathan Hickey — the first baseman.
That sentence alone tells you how ridiculous the night became.
Worcester beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 10-8 in 12 innings on Allan Castro’s walk-off two-run home run. Hickey, normally a first baseman, came on to pitch a scoreless top of the 12th and got Oswaldo Cabrera to hit into a double play to keep the game tied. Braiden Ward made his second brilliant catch of the game up against the wall to help Hickey escape. Then Castro ended it.
That is not normal baseball.
That is minor league madness at its absolute best.
Worcester started fast again. For the seventh time in nine games, the WooSox scored in the first inning. Braiden Ward was moved into the leadoff spot and immediately did what he has done more than anyone else in the league this season — he got hit by a pitch. It was his 11th hit-by-pitch of the year, the most in the league. He stole second, advanced to third when the throw skipped away, and scored on Nick Sogard’s single to center.
That was classic Ward. Get on. Run. Create panic. Score.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre answered in the second inning when Duke Ellis hit a three-run home run off Seth Martinez. Ellis had four hits on the night, and the RailRiders briefly took control. But like the entire series, Worcester answered immediately. Tsung-Che Cheng brought in Anthony Seigler with a groundout. Matt Lloyd followed with a groundout that scored Allan Castro. Game tied, 3-3.
The RailRiders went back ahead in the fourth when Ellis doubled and scored on Anthony Volpe’s sacrifice fly. Worcester again had the counterpunch ready. Anthony Seigler launched his first home run of the season, a towering shot over everything in right-center field. Castro singled, stole second, went to third when the throw got away, and scored on Cheng’s sacrifice fly. Worcester had the lead again.
The bullpen held it for a while. Eduardo Rivera followed Seth Martinez with 2.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits with four strikeouts. Kyle Keller continued his outstanding run with 1.1 hitless innings and three strikeouts, including a huge punchout of Duke Ellis to strand runners at second and third in the fifth. Keller had allowed just one earned run over his last 10.2 innings. Devin Sweet gave Worcester a clean seventh. Tayron Guerrero loaded the bases in the eighth but escaped by striking out Anthony Volpe with a nasty slider and then blowing a 100 mph fastball past Yanquiel Fernandez.
That was a massive moment. The RailRiders had the game right there, and Guerrero overpowered his way out.
Worcester added what felt like insurance in the seventh and eighth. Ward walked, stole second for the second time in the game, and scored when Volpe made an error on a ground ball from Sogard. Ward now had 16 steals, second most in the league. Matt Lloyd then lined his first home run of the season to right-center in the eighth, giving Worcester a 7-4 lead.
At that point, it felt safe.
It was not safe.
Cade Feeney, promoted from Double-A Portland earlier in the day, made his Triple-A debut in the ninth and got hit immediately. Oswaldo Cabrera doubled. Seth Brown, who went 4-for-5, tripled. A walk followed. Kennedy Corona tied the game with a two-out RBI single that capped a three-run rally.
Worcester had blown the lead.
But Feeney did not disappear. He battled back and gave the WooSox a scoreless 10th, then allowed only an unearned run in the 11th to keep them alive. That matters. A debut can unravel a pitcher, especially after getting hit hard in the ninth. Feeney kept competing.
Both teams scored in the 11th on sacrifice flies — Ernesto Martinez Jr. for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Kristian Campbell for Worcester. RailRiders catcher-turned-reliever Edinson Duran fought through 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit and one earned run.
Then came the 12th.
The bullpen was stretched. The game was absurd. Nathan Hickey came in to pitch. Braiden Ward made a brilliant catch at the wall. Hickey got the double play. Somehow, the WooSox survived.
Then Allan Castro finished it.
Castro’s two-run walk-off home run did more than win a game. It saved the night. It saved the bullpen from more punishment. It rewarded a team that had every reason to be drained and still found another swing. It also gave Worcester a 2-1 series lead and kept the WooSox tied with Syracuse atop the International League East, one game ahead of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
That is what this team has become. They are not just winning games. They are making teams work until the final pitch. They are turning simple innings into problems. They are using speed, contact, power, pressure, and chaos. Sometimes they make mistakes. Sometimes the bullpen gets stretched too far. Sometimes they leave bases loaded with no outs. But the fight does not disappear.
And now the weekend at Polar Park arrives with the series still burning.
Friday night brings “The Art of the Woo” uniforms and caps, celebrating Worcester’s artistic culture, with Isaac Coffey scheduled to start for Worcester against right-hander Dom Hamel. The game will be followed by UniBank Fireworks set to the music of the Grateful Dead. The National Baseball Poetry Festival is also part of the night, along with “Art But Make It Sports Night,” where ticket buyers through the special offer receive a copy of the new Art But Make It Sports book and can meet LJ Rader for a signing.
Saturday keeps the ballpark energy going with “Deuces Wild,” featuring $2 Coney Island and Hebrew National hot dogs, $2 waters, and 12-ounce drafts of Coors Light and Masshole Light Lager available for $2 through May 15. The day also includes Brain Tumor Awareness Day, with tickets through that special offer including a $5 donation to the WooSox Foundation and registration for the pregame Brain Tumor Awareness Walk. The National Baseball Poetry Festival continues, and fans can take part in Sunset Catch on the Field after the game if weather allows. The Larry Lucchino Writers Series will feature Justine Siegal, with ticket buyers able to attend a complimentary lunch in the Royal Wooters Club and a Q&A with the commissioner of the Women’s Professional Baseball League.
Sunday brings Mother’s Day at Polar Park with a 1:05 p.m. game, a Mother’s Day Brunch Buffet on the newly renovated Hanover Deck, and Kids Run the Bases after the game, weather permitting.
So yes, the weekend has fireworks, poetry, cheap hot dogs, art uniforms, Mother’s Day brunch, and baseball promotions stacked everywhere.
But the real show is still on the field.
Because this series has already shown exactly what Worcester and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre are going to be when they see each other this season. The RailRiders have thump. They have prospects. They have major league rehab talent. They have enough offense to punish any mistake. Spencer Jones, Yanquiel Fernandez, Duke Ellis, Seth Brown, Anthony Volpe — they have names that can change a game quickly.
But the WooSox have something just as dangerous.
They have resilience.
Mickey Gasper keeps driving the ball. Kristian Campbell is heating up. Allan Castro keeps delivering runs. Nick Sogard keeps getting on base. Braiden Ward is turning walks, hit-by-pitches and singles into immediate stress. Nathan Hickey can hit homers and, apparently, pitch emergency innings. The bullpen has been asked to do a lot, maybe too much, but it keeps finding just enough survival.
That is the story after three games.
Worcester is not playing clean baseball every night.
But they are playing dangerous baseball.
And dangerous teams are the ones nobody wants to face when the game gets late.