Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox won for the third time in less than 24 hours on Thursday afternoon when they beat up on the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, 15-1 before a matinee crowd of 6,945 at Polar Park. On Wednesday the WooSox swept a makeup doubleheader from the Jumbo Shrimp by 3-2 and 13-12 scores. The WooSox have now scored 28 runs on 33 hits in their last two games combined.
The Sox scored a pair of runs in both the 1st and 2nd innings and added three more runs in the 3rd inning to build an insurmountable 7-0 lead. The WooSox did most of their damage against Jacksonville ace Braxton Garrett who came into the game with a 1.52 ERA in his 13 starts.
Nick Sogard led off the bottom of the 1ste with a single, Nate Eaton was hit by a pitch, and DH Andrew Knizner brought both home with as 2-run double. In the 2nd, catcher Jason Delay led with a triple, Tyler McDonough followed with an RBI single, and Mickey Gasper drove in another with a sac fly.
Worcester essentially put the game away with a 3-spot in the 3rd inning to knock Garrett from the box. Allan Castro doubled and scored on a Delay single. Delay could come around to score on a double steal and throwing error and Eaton capped the frame with an RBI single. Garrett (4-3) was charged with 7 runs on 8 hits in 2.2 innings to suffer the loss.
Meanwhile, WooSox lefty Raymond Burgos (2-6) turned in his best outing of the season to earn the victory. The 27-year-old from Puerto Rico retired 11 straight at one point and took a shutout into the 6th inning before being touched for a run with two outs in the 6th. His final line – 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 SO.
Worcester added four more runs in the 7th inning with three coming off the bat of Castro who crushed a long 3-run HR (#9) way over the Worcester Wall. A 3-run HR by Knizner (#2 with Worcester and #11 overall) in the 9th inning put an exclamation point on both his huge day and Worcester’s onslaught.
Offensive standouts for the WooSox were led by Knizner who reached base six times going 3-for-3 with 3 walks including a double, homer and 6 RBI. Sogard and Eaton (the first two batters in the lineup) both had 3 hits and scored 2 runs. Braiden Ward added 3 hits out of the #9 spot.
Game four of the 6-game series is tomorrow (Friday) night at 6:45 pm on Pirates, Princes, & Princesses Night at Polar Park with post-game UniBank Fireworks set to the music of Disney Favorites. It will also be Indian Heritage Night. The game is on NESN and NASH 98.9 FM.
The WooSox (12-10, 48-46) will bid for their 4th win in a row while the Jumbo Shrimp (8-15, 50-47) will try to snap their 9-game losing streak.