Worcester Red Sox vs Syracuse Mets
A View of Polar Park from the Press Box
For many years, the AAA affiliate for the Red Sox had been located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I had been to McCoy stadium on several occasions to see them, and enjoyed each visit. Consequently, I was a little disappointed when I first heard that the PawSox were relocating to Worcester. However, I also believed that Worcester made sense for a minor league team.
The last time I went to a sporting event in Worcester was in 2008, watching the Worcester Sharks (the then-AHL affiliate of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks) at the DCU Center. I can’t say I remember much of what happened in that game, but it was still a fun experience. Fast forward 18 years, and I find myself back in Worcester, watching a different sport at a relatively new (five years old) stadium. I certainly wish I had come on a day with better weather (it was in the 50s and windy), but it was still nice to be there. Baseball is baseball, after all.
Turns out this wasn’t a Boxing Match
On this day, Worcester would be up against the Syracuse Mets (I’m sure you can figure out which MLB team they’re affiliated with). Isaac Coffey got the start for the Red Sox, and started out well, striking out the side in the first inning. Worcester would make a bit of noise at the bottom of the first, but ultimately would strand runners on first and second base to end the inning. The second inning was very uneventful for both teams.
The top of the third inning featured a truly bizarre sequence that I wouldn’t be able to explain had a friend of mine not been watching the telecast at the same time. Let me set the stage: Mets hitter Jackson Cluff hits a sharp line drive to right field, Kristian Campbell dives for it, but can’t get it, and Cluff winds up with a triple. Unfortunate start to the inning for Worcester.
Shortly thereafter, I saw a Worcester coach run onto the field to talk to the umpires, and after some deliberation, Cluff was no longer on third base. To make it even weirder, the hit was no longer registered on the scoreboard. It’s almost as if the at-bat had never happened. There was no explanation from the umpires or the announcers at the stadium with regards to what exactly happened, and the people around me were confused as well.
The MILB box score also doesn’t explain what happened, instead you’ll find that sequence described as Ben Rortvedt grounding out to the catcher, but the highlight video under it shows the triple from Cluff (which apparently no longer statistically exists). Luckily, my friend watching the broadcast explained to me what had happened: the Mets had batted out of order. Turns out the hitter was supposed to be Ben Rortvedt, with Cluff on deck. How a professional team could make such an error is beyond me.
The first score of the game came at the bottom of the fourth inning. Worcester managed to load the bases with no outs, and Mickey Gasper hit a soft ground ball up the first baseline, which was slow enough that the pitcher didn’t have time to throw it to home, and instead got the easy out at first. 1-0 Worcester.
After nothing from either team in the fifth inning, and nothing for the Mets in the sixth, Worcester found its way back on the scoreboard. After walks from Nick Sogard and Mickey Gasper, former top prospect Kristian Campbell hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Worcester. After Campbell and Gasper steal 2nd and 3rd base, respectively, Anthony Siegler hits a sharp ground ball to the second baseman, who mishandles it just enough so that he can only get the out at first, therefore letting Gasper score. 3-0 Worcester.
The top of the seventh featured nothing from the Mets (noticing a trend here?). But the bottom of the seventh featured three more runs from Worcester, one coming from a Jason Delay infield single, and two more coming from a Nick Sogard RBI double. 6-0 Worcester. Syracuse finally got on the board at the top of the eighth, one run on a wild pitch from Kyle Keller, and one run on an RBI single from Ji Hwan Bae. 6-2 Worcester. The bottom of the eighth would feature the final runs of the game, with Jason Delay, Mickey Gasper, and Nate Eaton driving in three more runs. 9-2 Worcester. Despite a double from Cristian Pache in the top of the ninth, Syracuse couldn’t get anything going, and the game would end with a final score of 9-2 Worcester.
Polar Park Right Field Press Box View
Despite the aforementioned cold temperatures, I enjoyed the game. I can’t say that any one prospect blew me away or anything. The only real highlight-worthy play I can think of was a diving catch from Kristian Campbell. A good deal of the runs came on infield singles too, so I didn’t get to hear the satisfying sound of a ball hitting the barrel very often. Of course, the non-existent triple from Syracuse at the top of the third was on my mind the whole time. It continued to nag me as I left the stadium, and I didn’t find out about the batting-out-of-order thing until later that night.
Oh, also, I found out about the Red Sox’s Red Wedding event (firing most of the coaching staff) as I left the stadium, as I overheard a conversation about it from two fans near me. So it turns out that an underappreciated highlight was how Worcester managed to win this game with its manager leaving halfway through.