WooSox Ride Five-Run 1st Inning to 7-4 Win at Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, PA – The Worcester Red Sox (72-63/36-28) plated five runs in the top of the 1st inning and got a quality start from Blake Wehunt en route to a 7-4 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (65-75/30-35) on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park. The WooSox are now 6-2 through the first eight games of their two-city road trip through Buffalo and Allentown and have won two straight.

The WooSox sent nine hitters to the plate in the top of the 1st inning against Lehigh Valley starter Alan Rangel in taking the early lead. Braiden Ward got the frame started with a walk and swiped second base with Franklin Arias at the plate. Ward’s steal was his 57th of the season, tying a Red Sox Triple-A record set by David Hamilton in 2022. With Ward at second base Arias grounded a single up the middle for an RBI to make it 1-0. After another walk and a groundout, Vinny Capra was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Tyler McDonough who reached on an infield single to score Arias giving the WooSox a 2-0 lead. Nathan Hickey then bounced a single to center field to drive in a pair, doubling the Worcester advantage to 4-0, and Tsung-Che Cheng reached on a fielders’ choice to score McDonough from third base to give the WooSox a 5-0 lead.

Kameron Misner hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first to cut the WooSox lead to 5-1, but McDonough responded with a solo shot of his own to right center field in the top of the 3rd to extend the advantage to five runs again at 6-1.

The IronPigs made it 6-2 in the bottom of the 3rd inning on a leadoff triple by Wuilfredo Antunez and RBI groundout off the bat of Jordan Dissin.

In the top of the 6th the WooSox increased their lead to five runs again. With runners at first and second and two outs, Arias grounded a single into right field to score Hickey from second base to make it 7-2.

The score remained at 7-2 until the bottom of the 9th inning when the IronPigs tallied a pair of runs and brought the tying run to the plate against WooSox reliever Osvaldo Berrios. Misner reached on an infield single to start the inning and scored from first base on a double to left center off the bat of Keaton Anthony to cut the WooSox lead to 7-3. After a strikeout, another infield single and a walk loaded the bases for Antunez who bounced into a fielder’s choice to drive in another making it 7-4. Dissin then came to the plate representing the tying run with two outs and hit a fly ball to deep left field that was caught by Allan Castro to end the ballgame.

Wehunt (3-1) picked up the win for the WooSox allowing just two runs on two hits with four strikeouts over 6.0 innings, while Rangel (3-8) suffered the loss for Lehigh Valley surrendering six runs on five hits in 5.0 innings.

With back-to-back wins in the books, the WooSox will look to make it three straight in game four of the series on Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:45 pm. Right-hander John Holobetz (2-4, 4.40) gets the ball for the WooSox making his 8th Triple-A start while the IronPigs send right-hander Chuck King (9-7, 4.10) to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 pm and radio pregame coverage begins at 6:25 pm on the WooSox Radio Network.