It took eight pitchers and a six-run third inning, but the WooSox staved off the Rail Riders’ (Yankees AAA) late comeback attempt after Wilkes-Barre smacked five homers off the WooSox pitching staff. The offense was super up for the challenge, though, and Kristian Campbell was at the forefront of that challenge, as he had two home runs in his first three times up to the plate and also added a single for a 4-RBI day. He was — obviously, in a 13-run effort for Worcester — far from the only person who was seeing the ball well. Romy Gonzalez also had a three-hit day, a walk, and a swiped bag along with a homer of his own, scoring four times, and IKF and Bret Harris each had multiple RBI’s. This game was tied at 10 going into the 8th, when Romy called game and the team never looked back.
The Sea Dogs were walked off in the tenth in the series finale Sunday afternoon but, truth be told, it was impressive that the Sea Dogs even grinded for an extra-inning game after Alex Bouchard gave up five runs to Richmond (Giants AA) via two early home runs. The Sea Dogs also had to use a multitude of pitchers and even ran out of pitchers, as catcher/first-baseman Hudson White came in and got taken for the game-winning run after walking two. Justin Gonzales went 0-for-6 with two strikeouts, but you’re entitled to a game of that caliber after raking so much for a period of time, and Johanfran Garcia picked up the slack anyway; he went 3-for-5 with his 17th home run of the season.
Offense was not at a premium on the farm as Greenville came back to walk the Emperors (Braves High-A) off with a four-run eighth and a four-run ninth inning, even after Trennor O’Donnell allowed three runs between the seventh and the ninth. Speaking of catchers making some news Sunday, Luke Heyman, who DH’d, had a five-RBI day thanks to his 2-out grand slam in the fifth to tie the game at 4. The game only got so much more interesting from there, as Rome’s winning percentage expected sat at 98% in the top of the seventh, and after some good at-bats from Luke Schaffner and Owen Hull (as usual) who else but Luke Heyman had the game-winning knock.
The whole organization is seemingly feeling the burn of the Red Sox playing musical chairs with the pitching depth, even as Salem used game one (originally slated for Wednesday) as essentially, a bullpen game in Fayetteville (Astros A). The RidgeYaks honestly didn’t hit enough to think of winning this, but each team only collected five hits, each stranded six, and each team had two knocks with runners on; it was just a matter of when the hits fell, and Salem giving up the afternoon’s only home run had some bearing, as well.
Game two was a bit more winnable as Fayetteville only managed two runs, but the runs came early, like, “one in each of the first two innings” early, and Anderson Fermin (who’s 20th birthday is this upcoming week) had Salem’s only run of the game when Martin Shelar would drive him in with one out in the final inning. The team as a whole had a track meet on the basepaths, swiping seven total, including Andrews Opata doing what he does best by grabbing four, putting his season total at 53. Unfortunately, none of those runners would cross the plate, and the comeback fell just short.
