Worcester, MA – Tsung-Che Cheng and Braiden Ward homered off rehabbing Toronto Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease to lead the Worcester Red Sox to a 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Bisons on Thursday night at Polar Park. Cheng crushed a 2-run, 426-foot blast to centerfield in the 2nd inning for his 5th homer of the season and Ward drilled a solo shot over the Worcester Wall in right in the 3rd inning for his 2nd homer of the year.
The WooSox scored 5 times off Cease in the first three innings and received superb pitching from four hurlers including winner Osvaldo Berrios (3 scoreless innings of relief) in his WooSox debut to go back over the .500 mark on the season at 29-28. Cease took the loss in his first rehab start going 4 innings allowing 6 hits and 5 runs with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts on 75 pitches.
Cease, 30, has been on Toronto’s injured list with a hamstring strain since leaving his last start on May 24 vs. Pittsburgh. Signed by the Blue Jays as a free agent this past December, he is 3-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 11 starts for Toronto this season with an American League-leading 92 strikeouts in 62 innings. A veteran of eight seasons in the Major Leagues with the White Sox (2019-2023), Padres (2024 & 2025), and now Blue Jays (2026), the Georgia native has a big league career record of 68-61 with a 3.83 ERA in 199 games (all starts) along with 1323 SO in his 1077.1 IP.
After a scoreless 1st inning, WooSox RF Allan Castro doubled with one out in the bottom of the 2nd for the first hit off Cease and scored on a two-out RBI single by 1B Matt Lloyd. 2B Cheng followed with a towering homer just to the right of the centerfield batter’s eye to extend the lead to 3-0.
Ward, who went 2-for-4 on the night, led-off the 3rd inning by belting a homer high over the Worcester Wall in rightfield. Vinny Capra, who also was 2-for-4, singled and came around to score on a 2-out RBI single by Castro who led the WooSox offense with 3 hits in the game.
The 5-0 lead held up until the top of the 7th when Buffalo scored their only run on a solo HR by CF Jonatan Clase. But that’s the only blemish on an otherwise excellent performance by four WooSox pitchers.
Devin Sweet started with 2 scoreless frames and 3 strikeouts, Berrios, just off rehabbing a right shoulder strain with Single-A Greenville for the past two weeks, made his WooSox debut and was impressive going 3 shutout innings on 1 hit with a pair of punchouts to get credit for the victory. Seth Martinez pitched the next two innings yielding just the homer to Clase. Wyatt Olds finished things off working the 8th and 9th getting a double play grounder to end it. WooSox pitchers finished with 9 strikeouts.
Worcester leads the series, 2 games to 1. Game four is Friday night at 6:05 pm and will feature a marquee pitching match-up at Polar Park of rehabbing Major League veterans Patrick Sandoval for Worcester vs. Max Scherzer for Buffalo. Sandoval is expected to go 1-2 innings while Scherzer is slated to throw approximately 60 pitches and go 4 or 5 innings.
The 41-year-old Scherzer is a 19-year Major League veteran, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, a two-time World Series Champion, and an eight-time All-Star. He has a career record of 222-120 with a 3.26 ERA in 488 big league games (479 starts) with 3,499 strikeouts in 2,981.2 innings pitched for seven teams…Arizona (2008-09), Detroit (2010-14), Washington (2015-21), the Dodgers (2021), the Mets (2022-23), Texas (2023-24), and Toronto (2025-2026).
Max has been on Toronto’s 15-day injured list since April 27 with right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation. He is one of six pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in both the American and National Leagues...with Detroit in 2013 and Washington in 2016 & 2017. He won the World Series in 2019 with the Nationals and in 2023 with the Texas Rangers. He is an eight-time All-Star selection...2013-2019, 2021.
Sandoval made two rehab starts for the WooSox in April but was taken off rehab after experiencing tightness in his bicep. He has been sidelined since undergoing Tommy John surgery on June 26, 2024 and missed all of last season after signing a 2-year contract with the Red Sox on December 23, 2024. In 107 career Major League games (100 starts) all with the Los Angeles Angels, Sandoval is 19-45 with a 4.01 ERA with 529 strikeouts in 536 carer big league innings.
The game will be televised live on NESN+ and broadcast on radio on NASH 98.9 FM. It will be Irish Heritage Night at Polar Park including a special Irish poster giveaway; a post-game performance by Derek Warfield & the Young Wolfe Tones prior to “Luck of the Irish” UniBank Fireworks; and a Natick Town Takeover, presented by Rodenhiser.