By Tiffany Williams –
WORCESTER, Mass. — Four games down.
Two games left.
And after four wildly different nights at Polar Park, the Worcester Red Sox and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders enter the weekend exactly where they started.
Even.
The six-game series between the Triple-A affiliates of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees is tied at two games apiece after Scranton/Wilkes-Barre shut down Worcester, 2-0, Friday night before a sellout crowd of 9,037.
Now the pressure shifts directly onto Saturday and Sunday.
Worcester has already shown two completely different versions of itself during this series.
There was the offense that exploded for eight runs Tuesday and seven Thursday.
Then there was the offense that managed one run Wednesday and disappeared completely Friday.
If the WooSox want to take four of six from the RailRiders, they cannot wait for the offense to suddenly arrive.
They have to create it.
Tuesday showed exactly what Worcester can look like when its lineup gets rolling.
The WooSox entered the homestand needing a jolt after a four-game losing streak, and Roman Anthony delivered it.
Worcester trailed 4-3 in the seventh when Anthony crushed a 3-1 pitch at 107 mph for a two-run home run to right-center, flipping the game and igniting a five-run inning.
Romy Gonzalez doubled. Franklin Arias doubled him home. Kristian Campbell singled home Arias. Nate Baez followed with his first WooSox hit to score Campbell.
Just like that, Worcester had turned a one-run deficit into an 8-4 advantage.
Anthony finished 2-for-4 with a walk, single, home run and three RBI.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Anthony and Trevor Story occupied the first three spots in Worcester’s lineup as all three continued rehabilitation assignments from Boston.
Kiner-Falefa went 1-for-3 with two walks, a double and a run scored. Story went 0-for-4 but walked and drove in a run.
The victory snapped Worcester’s four-game losing streak.
It also showed how dangerous the lineup could become when opportunities turned into runs.
Wednesday showed the other side.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hammered Worcester pitching early, scoring four times in the second and twice more in the third on the way to a 7-1 victory.
Kennedy Corona blasted a three-run homer. Anthony Volpe followed immediately with a solo shot.
Back-to-back home runs.
A 4-0 RailRiders lead.
And Worcester never recovered.
The RailRiders added RBI singles from Oswaldo Cabrera and Tyler Hardman in the third to make it 6-0 and knock WooSox starter Gage Ziehl out after three innings.
Worcester’s only run came after Braiden Ward singled, stole second for his league-leading 54th stolen base, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on a Kiner-Falefa grounder.
The WooSox bullpen stopped the bleeding.
Noah Song delivered three scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Tyler Samaniego needed just four pitches for a perfect seventh. Devin Sweet struck out two in a perfect eighth.
But the offense never answered.
The RailRiders held Worcester to five singles.
Then came Thursday.
And Worcester flipped the script again.
Anthony moved into the leadoff spot for the first time with the WooSox, followed by Kiner-Falefa and Story.
The result was immediate.
Anthony opened the bottom of the first with a 100 mph single. Kiner-Falefa followed with a single. Story brought Anthony home with a sacrifice fly.
Nate Eaton ripped an RBI double down the left-field line, scoring Kiner-Falefa. Campbell followed with another RBI double.
Three runs before Scranton/Wilkes-Barre could settle into the game.
The RailRiders got one back in the second, but Worcester starter Blake Wehunt gave them nothing else.
Wehunt went five innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out four.
Then Worcester attacked again.
With two outs in the sixth, Brett Harris walked and Vinny Capra singled.
Nathan Hickey drove home Harris.
Tsung-Che Cheng doubled home Capra and Hickey.
Then Anthony ripped a 105 mph double off the Worcester Wall to score Cheng.
Four runs.
All with two outs.
The WooSox bullpen took care of everything else.
Osvaldo Berrios threw two hitless and scoreless innings. Seth Martinez struck out the side in the eighth and added two more strikeouts during a perfect ninth.
Final score: Worcester 7, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 1.
Twenty-four hours later, Worcester’s offense vanished.
Anthony, Kiner-Falefa and Story were all out of Friday’s lineup.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Alexander Cornielle took advantage.
Cornielle dominated Worcester for eight innings, surrendering only two hits and two walks while striking out six.
Nate Eaton managed an infield single in the second.
Gonzalez singled in the fourth.
That was it against Cornielle.
He retired 13 of the final 14 Worcester hitters he faced.
Yanquiel Fernandez supplied the first blow for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, breaking a scoreless tie with a solo home run in the fourth.
Volpe doubled home another run in the fifth.
Two runs were enough.
WooSox starter John Holobetz allowed both during a solid five-inning outing, and Worcester’s bullpen gave the offense every opportunity to respond.
John Brebbia worked a scoreless sixth. Angel Bastardo delivered two hitless innings. Hobie Harris struck out three during a hitless ninth.
Franklin Arias doubled with one out in the bottom of the ninth, extending his hitting streak to seven games.
He never made it home.
Worcester was shut out, 2-0.
It was the fourth time in eight games the WooSox had been blanked.
After a blistering 15-2 stretch from July 22 through August 8, Worcester has now lost 12 of its last 17.
That makes this weekend bigger.
Anthony, Kiner-Falefa and Story are expected back in Worcester’s lineup Saturday.
Anthony is slated for left field. Kiner-Falefa is expected at second. Story is expected at shortstop.
And the expectation is that the three Boston rehabbers will again occupy the top portion of Worcester’s batting order.
Their return does not guarantee offense.
Wednesday proved that.
But the first four games have provided Worcester with a clear blueprint for what works.
Tuesday: eight runs.
Wednesday: one.
Thursday: seven.
Friday without the trio: zero.
Saturday’s assignment will not be easy.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is scheduled to start right-hander Brendan Beck, who enters at 9-2 with a 2.75 ERA.
Worcester counters with left-hander Raymond Burgos, who is 3-6 with a 5.14 ERA and will make his second start since returning to the WooSox after helping Boston’s depleted bullpen.
Worcester cannot afford to sit around waiting for one swing to save the night.
Anthony and Kiner-Falefa can set the table.
Story, Eaton, Campbell and the rest of the lineup have to capitalize.
And when Worcester gets runners aboard, pressure matters.
Ward gives the WooSox another weapon.
His 54 stolen bases leave him just three away from matching David Hamilton’s Worcester and modern-day Red Sox Triple-A single-season record of 57, set in 2023.
Get Ward on base and Worcester has an opportunity to force Scranton/Wilkes-Barre into decisions.
Hold the baseball.
Make a throw.
Defend the running game.
Then there is the power waiting on the other side.
Worcester has already seen what happens when Scranton’s hitters get pitches they can drive.
Marco Luciano has homered twice in the series.
Volpe has gone deep.
Corona has gone deep.
Fernandez hit his 22nd homer Friday.
One bad inning can change everything.
That makes Burgos’ assignment straightforward: keep Worcester close enough for its offense to work.
The WooSox bullpen has repeatedly done its job during this series.
Even in defeat Wednesday, Worcester relievers kept Scranton scoreless from the fourth through the eighth.
Thursday, Berrios and Martinez shut the RailRiders down.
Friday, Brebbia, Bastardo and Harris combined for four scoreless innings.
The bullpen has given Worcester chances.
Now the offense has to take them.
Saturday is the first test.
Sunday could become the deciding one.
Win Saturday and Worcester walks into the series finale with a chance to take four of six from the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.
Lose Saturday and the WooSox would be fighting merely to salvage a split.
There is no complicated formula.
Worcester needs baserunners.
It needs pressure.
It needs production beyond the first three names on the lineup card.
Thursday provided the model: Anthony and Kiner-Falefa created opportunities at the top, Story drove in a run, and Eaton, Campbell, Hickey and Cheng kept the lineup moving.
Friday provided the warning.
Three hits.
No runs.
A sellout crowd with almost nothing to celebrate offensively.
Now there are two games remaining.
Two opportunities.
And if Worcester wants to walk out of Polar Park Sunday having won this series, the WooSox cannot wait for the big inning to find them.
They have to go create it.
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