Nick Sogard reflects on Thursday’s two-home-run game, walk-off win

WORCESTER — WooSox manager Chad Tracy said that Thursday night’s 13-12 WooSox walk-off win was probably the most exciting victory he’s seen at Polar.

“The amount of the waves of emotion I went through where I was like, we’re going to win and then we’re going to lose, then oh, we’re going to win,” Tracy said. “The way, it just kept going back and forth….that was a wild game for sure.”

In the middle of it all was Nick Sogard, who homered twice, collected two other hits and drove in four runs. One of those home runs, from the right side of the plate, tied the game at 6-6. The second, this time from the left side, ended a three-and-a-half-hour, 25-run affair. As he rounded the bases on the walk-off, he pointed at former teammate and current RailRiders Jeter Downs at shortstop.

“It was time to go home,” Sogard said.

Sogard said it was the first walk-off homer of his professional career, but he did have a pretty cool game-ender when he was a kid, playing in Cooperstown with his Little League team.

It’s the second multi-homer game in his career, but the first time he’s accomplished the rare feat of homering from both side of the dish. That hasn’t happened for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate since Drew Sutton did it in 2011 for the PawSox.

Sogard is not necessarily known for his power, but he’s gone deep four times so far this season. It’s been an up-and-down start to the season for the infielder, as a slow couple of weeks to start the season gave way to a 10-game hitting streak, and then an illness that was making its way through the clubhouse knocked him out of consistent action for about a week at the end of April.

Thursday night’s performance felt a bit like a turning point for Sogard.

“I felt like it was almost an exhale,” he said. “Everybody wants to get off to a good start and it doesn’t always work out that way. So it’s nice to see some of the work start to show up. Aside from the sickness, lately I’ve been feeling a lot better at the plate, so I kind of was feeling like it was a matter of time before something got going.”

Sogard said balancing the desire to hit for power and the need to just be himself as a hitter has been “a little bit of the battle this year.”

“It’s just trying to hit how I hit and let that naturally integrate itself into my game. I think most hitters will say the same thing, if you’re consciously trying to hit for power, it’s probably not going to go the the best for you.”

WooSox 9, RailRiders 8

It was another tight, back-and-forth game with 17 runs and 21 hits between the two teams.

Bobby Dalbec hit his second home run in as many nights with a first-inning shot that put the WooSox up 2-0. The RailRiders got those runs back and more in the second inning off starter Richard Fitts, who was hit hard in his three innings of work. He was tagged for six runs on eight hits and a walk.

The WooSox rallied in the fourth and cut into the lead on an Alvarez single that brought home two runs. They knotted the game at 6-6 in the fifth as Enmanuel Valdez singled in a run and Niko Kavadas drew a bases-loaded walk.

Justin Hagenman was solid in relief of Fitts, but ran out of steam in his fourth inning of work. The RailRiders tagged Hagenman for two runs on three hits to break a 6-6 tie in the seventh inning, but before the rally, Hagenman was rolling and had just come off a six-pitch inning.

Dalbec showed off his arm in right field to get the second out of the inning and keep it a two-run game, getting Oscar Gonzalez at the plate. The WooSox didn’t let the RailRiders lead last long, however, and took a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh. With two runners on and two outs, Jamie Westbrook came through with a big double, clearing the bases. Alvarez followed up with a shot that came inches from leaving the ballpark, instead bouncing near the top of the center-field wall but still scoring Westbrook.

Jorge Benitez was excellent in an inning and two-thirds, allowing two hits and keeping the RailRiders off the board. The ninth inning opened on a rocky note with Everson Pereira reaching on an error, but Lucas Luetge got a groundout and two strikeouts to end the inning and the game.

Notes

– Bailey Horn, who was acquired from the White Sox late last month, was the bright spot of Thursday’s game on the pitching side, tossing a scoreless ninth, striking out two.

– “I think he looks great. There’s been a lot of focus work in the bullpen for him centered around focusing on getting the ball in the square,” Tracy said. “Tie game, quick 15 pitches and get out of there. But in addition, he’s got ride at 95 [mph], he’s working on this little gyro slider. He’s got the big breaking ball for lefties. He’s got good stuff, and when you add the 95 in there, it’s difficult to sit on anything.”