MOOSIC, PA – J.C. Escarra hit a walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning to break a 4-4 tie and lift the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (50-43/13-6) to a 5-4 win over the Worcester Red Sox (45-46/9-11) on Sunday afternoon at PNC Field. The WooSox suffered losses in both games of the rain-shortened two-game series in Moosic, and were swept in a series for the second time this season.
The WooSox opened the scoring in the top of the 1st inning. With two outs and the bases empty, Nate Eaton blooped a single to right center and advanced to third on a double off the wall in right field by Andrew Knizner. Eaton then scored on a wild pitch to give Worcester a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 2nd, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tied the game on a solo home run by Oswaldo Cabrera to right field off WooSox starter Osvaldo Berrios to make it 1-1.
With the game still tied going into the 6th, the RailRiders used the longball again to take their first lead of the day. Spencer Jones got the inning started with a double down the left field line off WooSox reliever Tyler Samaniego, and Marco Luciano then greeted new Worcester pitcher Seth Martinez with a two-run homer to left center field to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 3-1 lead.
The RailRiders tacked on another run in the bottom of the 7th. With two outs and the bases empty George Lombard, Jr. doubled to right center and scored on a double by Escarra to the same spot to make it 4-1.
Sitting on just one hit since the 1st inning, the WooSox sprung to life and came back to tie the game with three runs in the top of the 8th. Braiden Ward and Nick Sogard got the rally started with back-to-back walks and Eaton followed with a single to left field to cut the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lead to 4-2. After a lineout, Mickey Gasper delivered a pinch-hit single to make it 4-3 and Brett Harris doubled down the left field line to score Eaton from second base to tie the game 4-4.
The score remained 4-4 until the bottom of the 9th when Escarra hit an 0-1 pitch from WooSox reliever Sam McWilliams over the wall in right to end the ballgame.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre reliever Yovanny Cruz (7-3) picked up the win with a scoreless top of the 9th inning, and McWilliams (1-1) was tagged with the loss for the WooSox.
The WooSox return to Polar Park on Tuesday to begin a six-game series against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, which also kicks off a stretch of 18 of their next 24 games in the Canal District, with first pitch at 6:45 pm. Neither team has announced their starter for the series opener, which will also be a Taco & Tequila Tuesday presented by Teremana. The game will be televised on NESN+ and radio pregame coverage begins at 6:25 pm on the WooSox Radio Network.