WooSox Stymie Rochester Again, 3-1

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox used five pitchers to beat the Rochester Red Wings, 3-1 on Wednesday night at Polar Park. With four games remaining on the season, the WooSox (74-71) need just one more victory to ensure a winning season for the fifth time in their five years of existence. Worcester’s win on Wednesday made it 16 victories in 20 games vs. Rochester this season including a perfect 8-0 at home vs. the Red Wings on the year.

Tyler Uberstine tossed five scoreless innings in his final start of the season to up his record to 6-4. The righty has been a mainstay in the WooSox rotation since being promoted from Double-A Portland in mid-May and lowered his ERA to 3.56 in his 19 games (16 starts) with Worcester. His final line on Wednesday – 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO.

As good as Uberstine was, he was followed by the star of the night, 22-year-old Luis Perales who was brilliant in his Triple-A debut. Perales has missed almost the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery in June of 2024. He made his first official appearance of the year last Saturday for Portland (1 scoreless inning), but was even better in his WooSox debut.

The Venezuelan native began by striking out the #2 Red Wings batter, Yohandy Morales on three pitches. He needed four pitches (all strikes) to set down Nick Schnell on strikes and capped a near immaculate inning by using four pitches (three for strikes) to get clean-up batter Trey Lipscomb swinging.

Overall, in this his 5th professional season after signing with Boston as an international free agent in July of 2019 at the age of 16 years & 3 months, Luis has a 3.22 ERA in 46 games (43 starts) with 227 SO in 163 IP. Perales was added to Boston’s 40-man roster in November of 2023 and was the youngest Red Sox player in Major League spring training camp in 2024 (20-years-old).

For the 8^th straight game on Wednesday, the WooSox scored first (they are 5-3 in those games). With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 2^nd-inning, Tyler McDonough & Corey Rosier singled and both raced home on a 2-run double to rightfield by second baseman Max Ferguson to give the WooSox a 2-0 lead.

Worcester made it 3-0 in the 5^th as Mikey Romero ripped a single, Kristian Campbell (2 hits) followed with a line single to right sending Romero to third, and Phillip Sikes plated Romero with an infield single.

After Perales dazzled in the 6^th, rehabbing Red Sox reliever Luis Guerrero stranded runners on 2^nd & 3^rd in a scoreless 7^th-inning and Jovanni Moran followed with a scoreless 8^th. Rochester did break the shutout with a run in the 9^th off Nick Burdi, but Burdi got a strikeout and an infield popout to leave the bases loaded and secure his 5^th save.

The final series and homestand of the season at Polar Park continues with games Thursday & Friday (both at 6:05 pm) and then over the weekend on Saturday at 4:05 pm and Sunday at 1:05 pm. Jack Anderson gets the start for the WooSox on Thursday at 6:05 pm vs. Rochester righty Riley Cornelio. The game is live on NESN and on radio on NASH 98.9 FM.