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IL Worcester Red Sox

Rafaela, Kavadas Homer as WooSox Split Two Games Saturday

July 22, 2023 - International League (IL)
Worcester Red Sox News Release


MOOSIC, PA - The Worcester Red Sox (13-6, 52-42), took an 8-3 loss and earned a 10-2 win on Saturday against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (10-8, 44-48) at PNC Field.

Niko Kavadas hit his first Triple-A homer in the Game 2 victory, Ryan Fitzgerald delivered a two-run double in his first game back from the injured list, and Ceddanne Rafaela extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a two-run homer in the opener and a two-run double in the nightcap.

Game 1 was a continuation of Friday night's suspended contest, which was paused after three innings due to a lighting issue at PNC Field. Before the lights went out in Scranton, the RailRiders had taken a 4-0 lead against Shane Drohan (L, 2-4) on a two-run homer from Carlos Narvaez, a run-scoring wild pitch, and a catcher's interference call with the bases loaded.

Play continued in the fourth inning at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday, and started with a pitchers' duel between Worcester's Jake Faria and Scranton's Clayton Beeler (W, 1-1). In his first Triple-A appearance since making his Red Sox debut, Faria tossed four two-hit shutout innings with no walks and six strikeouts.

The WooSox managed just one unearned run off Beeler, who struck out five of the first six batters he faced and scattered just two hits in four innings. Ronaldo Hernandez reached on a two-out error in the seventh, moved up to second on a David Hamilton walk, and scored on a Nick Sogard single - with the help of some creative baserunning. Worcester wound up with two runners on second base, but Hamilton danced between second and third long enough to allow Hernandez to come home.

The score remained 4-1 until Scranton broke things open with four runs in the bottom of the eighth. Andres Chaparro hit a leadoff homer, then three walks and a hit batter forced home another run before Everson Pereira lined a two-run single to center to put the RailRiders ahead 8-1.

Ceddanne Rafaela provided a spark in the top of the ninth with a two-out, two-run home run, his sixth in just 18 Triple-A games. Nick Sogard was aboard after being hit by an Aaron McGarity breaking ball when Rafaela walloped an 0-1 slider 370 feet to left. The deep drive hooked around the foul pole and brought the score to 8-3 before Bobby Dalbec flied out to end the ballgame.

In the 10-2 Game 2 victory, the WooSox jumped out to a 1-0 lead with three first-inning singles against Deivi Garcia (L, 2-2), including an RBI liner to left from Dalbec.

Worcester opened up a 5-0 advantage with four more runs in the top of the third. Ryan Fitzgerald, in his first game since June 17 (oblique strain), sliced a two-run double down the third-base line off Michael Gomez. Fitzgerald came home two batters later on a no-doubt shot from Niko Kavadas, who blasted a 401-foot torpedo over the right-field fence.

It was the first Triple-A home run for Kavadas, who led the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs with 14 long balls before joining the WooSox on July 14.

Scranton got on the board in the fourth when Rodolfo Duran tripled and scored on a wild pitch. It was 5-2 after a solo home run from Jake Bauers in the fifth, but Worcester responded with five more runs.

A four-run rally in the sixth inning was highlighted by a two-run double from Ceddanne Rafaela, who drilled a Zac Houston sinker off the base of the left field wall to plate Kavadas and Sogard. The lead stretched to 9-2 when a Dalbec pop fly fell in between three RailRiders in shallow center. Two runs came home and Dalbec hustled around to third on the play.

Worcester added one more in the seventh when Niko Kavadas doubled and Daniel Palka singled him home.

Rio Gomez got the start in Game 2, and held Scranton scoreless in three effective innings while scattering three hits, two walks, and racking up three strikeouts. Andres Nunez (S, 1) earned his first WooSox save with 2.1 innings of perfect relief.

Having won six of eight games on this nine-game road trip, the first place WooSox will conclude the six-game series in Scranton on Sunday before returning home to start a week-long homestand at Polar Park on Tuesday. Sunday's game is scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. with radio coverage beginning at 12:45 p.m. on the 98.9 NASH Icon WooSox Radio Network.

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