WORCESTER — The Worcester Red Sox (22-23) became the first team to take a six-game series from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (29-15) on Sunday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader with a 6-3 loss in game one and a 3-1 win in game two at Polar Park.
After going down 1-0 in game two on a third-inning home run from Carlos Narvaez, the WooSox came back for the third time in four games against SWB.
Nathan Hickey stepped up in the fourth and delivered his first home run in the month of May, a game-tying solo shot. Hickey, who hit 19 home runs across two levels in 2023, now has four at Triple-A in 2024.
Bobby Dalbec followed Hickey’s blast with a double, and one batter later, Jamie Westbrook gave Worcester the lead with an RBI double of his own. Westbrook drove in five this week against the RailRiders, his former team.
Nick Sogard tacked on a key insurance run in the fifth, ripping an RBI double to score Mark Contreras and extend the home team’s lead to 3-1.
On the mound, Ryan Zeferjahn struck out three in the first as the Worcester opener, topping out at 99.3 miles-per-hour with his fastball. Grant Gambrell earned his second win of the season as the bulk reliever, tossing five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts.
Lucas Luetge earned his third save with runless seventh, lowering his season ERA to 3.00 with his 11th scoreless outing in his last 13 appearances.
In game one, the WooSox took an early lead on an RBI single from Dalbec, plating Nick Sogard. Dalbec, who had homered in consecutive games entering Sunday, finished the series with six hits against SWB.
The RailRiders ultimately scored two in the second and three in the fourth, all five runs charged to Worcester starter Jason Alexander. Luis Torrens drove home both second-inning runs on a single, while Oscar Gonzalez and Josh VanMeter provided RBI hits in the fifth.
Offensively, Worcester scratched across a second inning run on a wild pitch, then added one more in the fourth thanks to an Eddy Alvarez RBI single to make it 5-3. Alvarez drove in five runs in four games versus Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The WooSox are off Monday before beginning a six-game series at Polar Park on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m. against the Norfolk Tides, affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.
