Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox closed out an eventful homestand with a 6-2 victory over the Syracuse Mets on Sunday afternoon in Polar Park to give Iggy Suarez his first win as acting WooSox manager. The win gave the WooSox a series victory over the Mets, 4 games to 2 and kept the Sox tied atop the International East division with their 15-11 record.
Prior to the game, Suarez was named as the acting manager of the WooSox. After Worcester’s 9-2 victory late Saturday afternoon at Polar Park, manager Chad Tracy flew to Baltimore later in the evening in advance of taking over as Boston Red Sox interim manager. On Sunday afternoon Trace earned his first Red Sox victory in his Major League managerial debut, 5-3 at Camden Yards. It was also the 500th victory of his managerial career (499 in the minor leagues and 1 with Boston).
Suarez was in his second season as Worcester’s defensive coach and has worked closely on a daily basis with Tracy since joining the club in 2025. Suarez was the manager for the Red Sox Single-A affiliate the Greenville Drive for seven years and six seasons of play from 2018-2024 and he didn’t miss a beat in his return to the managerial seat on Sunday at Polar Park.
Nate Eaton staked Iggy and the WooSox to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd inning when he blasted a 3-run HR (#3) onto the berm in left field. Eaton’s blow scored Matt Thaiss (walk) and Braiden Ward (HBP) who was plunked for the league-leading 9th time in his 16 games played. Eaton, who is now batting .293, singled in the 1st inning, homered in the 3rd, doubled in the 5th inning, and walked in the 7th to complete his perfect day.
Jack Anderson, just back from an impressive week-long stint with the Boston Red Sox, turned in a fine start tossing 4 scoreless innings allowing just 3 hits with 4 strikeouts. Anderson had his usual pinpoint control as he did not walk a batter and threw 34 of his 46 pitches for strikes.
Eduardo Rivera, another who recently returned to Worcester after making a superb Major League debut with Boston at Fenway earlier in the week, gave up 2 runs in the 5th inning on an RBI double by Mets 1B Trace Willhoite and an RBI groundout by lead-off man Nick Morabito. But the big lefty from Puerto Rico bounced back to strike out the Syracuse side in the 6th inning and chalked up 6 SO in his 3 IP for the victory. Jacob Webb and Tommy Kahnle each posted a scoreless inning to finish off Worcester’s final home game in the month of April.
Worcester added to their lead in the 6th when 2B Vinny Capra led with a single and came around to score on an RBI single by Thaiss. Capra is 2nd in the league with 22 runs scored. Ward (2-for-4, 2 runs) singled and scored in the 7th on a Kristian Campbell sac fly and Capra drove home the game’s final run later in the inning with his second hit.
Suarez, a former infielder in the Red Sox system between 2003-2009, reached Triple-A Pawtucket in 2009. He was born and raised in New York and now spends his off-season in Houston. He was selected by the Red Sox in the 24th round of the 2003 Draft out of Texas State University. He spent most of four seasons with Double-A Portland from 2006-09 before finishing the 2009 season with the PawSox (20 games).
Iggy began his coaching career as hitting coach for the former Lowell Spinners (Boston’s short-A affiliate) in 2015 before becoming Lowell’s manager in 2016-2017. Promoted to Greenville in 2018 he had been at the helm of the Drive until joining the WooSox in 2025. Suarez led Greenville to the South Atlantic League Championship in 2023 behind a team that included Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Blaze Jordan, Marcelo Mayer, Chase Meidroth, and Kyle Teel.
The WooSox are off on Monday as is custom, and hopefully for all concerned it will be a quiet day before the team heads to Rochester, NY later in the afternoon. The Worcester roster is always in spin mode, but it has been spinning at a frantic pace over the last three weeks. The WooSox have made at least one player move during 19 of the last 20 days between April 7-25 amounting to 34 moves total. The only day they have not been involved in a player transaction during this stretch was on their last off-day on Monday, April 13.
Worcester will open a 6-game series in Rochester beginning Tuesday night at 6:05 pm at ESL Ballpark. RHP Chandler Champlain (0-0, 4.20) gets the starting assignment for Rochester while Worcester’s starter is TBD. The game can be heard on NASH 98.9 FM and The Pike 100.1 FM with Jim Cain and Alex Jensen on the call.
The Red Sox and Red Wings (AAA-Washington) will play Tuesday & Wednesday nights at 6:05 pm, Thursday morning at 11:05 am, Friday at 6:05 pm, and then over the weekend on Saturday & Sunday both at 1:05 pm. The WooSox will return to action at Polar Park on Tuesday, May 5 when they begin a 6-game set against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (AAA-Yankees) .