Red Sox Minor League Report: Mikey Romero, Allan Castro's Multi-Homer Days Led to WooSox Blowout in Syracuse

Boston Red Sox Affiliate Recap

Triple-A Worcester Red Sox

Season Record: 38-40

Worcester destroyed the Syracuse Mets (New York Mets) with a blowout 15-5 win for the first game of the road trip. 

The WooSox got off to a hot start in the first inning; Mikey Romero and Allan Castro started their outstanding performances with a pair of two-run homers, putting them up 4-0.

In the second, Braiden Ward tallied a hit, then stole his 35th base of the year, and Vinny Capra and Andrew Knizner drew walks to load the bases with two outs. Castro was the next man up and slapped a single to right field, scoring two runs to extend Worcester’s lead, 6-0. The Mets cut their deficit after an RBI double and a sacrifice fly, making it a 6-2 game.

The fifth is where the massacre happened, blowing the game wide open with a WooSox seven-run inning. Castro led off the one-out rally with his third hit of the game; a few batters later, with the bases juiced, Nathan Hickey brought in two runners with an RBI ground-rule double, 8-3. Max Ferguson followed up with a double of his own to bring in another run, then Ward lined a two-run single, 11-3. With two outs, Romero blasted his second homer of the game with a two-run shot, putting the game completely out of reach, 13-3.

The second Sox player earned themselves a multi-homer game after Castro launched a solo shot to put Worcester up 14-3.

The last run for the WooSox came in the eighth inning when Capra became the sixth player on the team with multiple hits, cracking an RBI single to make it 15-3. Syracuse brought in a pair of runs in the ninth, but it did not matter, ending the game 15-5.

Worcester was amazing all around, tallying a total of 16 hits and 10 walks. The middle of the bullpen was outstanding as well; Osvaldo Berrios, Devin Sweet, and Zack Kelly combined for 3 ⅔ shutout innings. 

Standout Performances: 

• Allan Castro: 4-for-6, 2 HR, 3 R, 5 RBI
• Mikey Romero: 2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB
• Nathan Hickey: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
• Braiden Ward: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB

Double-A Portland Sea Dogs

Season Record: 39-36

The Sea Dogs dropped a high-scoring 12-8 affair at home to the Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates).

Portland’s pitching staff was a letdown, giving the team's offense a tough time as the team tried to come back from a deficit.

As a team, the Sea Dogs blasted four homers, Caden Rose crushed a grand slam, and Franklin Arias made it back-to-back home runs with a solo shot (16th of the season) in the fifth. Nelly Taylor and Nate Baez almost completed an insane comeback after hitting home runs in the sixth and seventh, making it a 9-8 game, but the eighth inning unraveled. 

Michael Sansone started the game for Portland and struggled, giving up five runs on nine hits with three strikeouts. Caleb Bolden and Erik Rivera got roughed up out of the bullpen, allowing seven runs while having trouble finding the strike zone with six combined walks. 

Standout Performances: 

• Nate Baez: 2-for-4, HR, R, RBI
• Nelly Taylor: 1-for-2, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB
• Caden Rose: 1-for-4, HR, R, 4 RBI
• Franklin Arias: 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI, BB

High-A Greenville Drive

Season Record: 30-43

Initially having a lead in extras, Greenville blew it in extras with a 5-4 walk-off defeat to the Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox).

Luke Heyman carried the offense with a 3-for-4 day, including the go-ahead RBI single in the 10th. Mason White was the only other Drive hitter with multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with a game-tying RBI single in the sixth, while Yoeilin Cespedes blasted the only homer (12th of the season) for Greenville in the sixth as well. 

After his outstanding performance last week, Dylan Brown had trouble finding the zone, which ultimately gave the Dash more chances to score. Through four innings, he gave up three runs and four walks with six strikeouts. Joe Vogatsky was solid in his bullpen appearance, tossing four scoreless innings with four punchouts.

Standout Performances:

• Luke Heyman: 3-for-4, R, RBI, BB
• Mason White: 2-for-5, R, RBI
• Yoeilin Cespedes: 1-for-5, HR, R, RBI
• Joe Vogatsky: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 4 K

Low-A Salem RidgeYaks

Season Record: 29-46

The RidgeYaks suffered a blowout 11-3 defeat to the Augusta GreenJackets on the road.

The game was interesting up until the GreenJackets blew the game open with a five-run fifth inning. With the Yaks down one in the third, Avinson Pinto blasted his fourth homer of the year with a solo shot, tying the game 1-1.

Augusta took the lead back in the fourth with an RBI groundout, then went to mayhem in the fifth, taking Salem’s starter Leighton Finley out of the game before he could finish off the inning. Finley struggled mightily when it came to missing bats, giving up seven runs on nine hits with just two strikeouts through 4 ⅓ innings of work. Jay Allmer and Wuilliams Rodriguez allowed two runs of their own in their bullpen stints.

Salem’s bats could not wake up at any point of the game other than the two home runs from Kleyver Salazar and Pinto (the only extra-base hits as a team). The Yaks’ offense recorded just five hits, with three singles combined coming from Louis Andujar, Andrew Musett, and Anderson Fermin. 

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