Grullón Clubs 11th Inning Walkoff Blast to Beat Syracuse
September 24, 2022 – International League (IL) – Worcester Red Sox News Release
WORCESTER, M.A. – Deivy Grullón delivered a walkoff two-run home run to give the Worcester Red Sox (73-72) a 7-5 win in 11 innings over the Syracuse Mets (62-84) on Saturday night, a swing that came in front of 7,814 at Polar Park.
After Chase Shugart posted a scoreless top of the 11th-aided by a line drive double play right back at him-Grullón came to the plate with an automatic runner on second. Playing in just his 19th game of the season with the WooSox, Grullón swung at the first pitch he saw, driving a two-run home run over the right field wall.
The long ball provided the eighth and final extra-base-hit of the game for Worcester, pushing the home team to its sixth walkoff win of the season in its penultimate game at Polar Park.
It was a 4-4 game prior to extra innings, and the two teams traded runs in the tenth. Jake Mangum made it 5-4 in the road half of the inning with an RBI double to center, and Johan Mieses forced an 11th with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the frame.
Syracuse led 1-0 on a third-inning RBI single by Travis Jankowski, but the WooSox began their half of the fourth with a Johan Mieses double. After a groundout, Pedro Castellanos came through with a game-tying RBI single.
Three of Worcester’s next four batters would double, including a go-ahead two-run two-bagger by Grullón off the wall in right-center and an RBI double from Nick Sogard to right. By day’s end, the WooSox would have a season-high seven doubles.
WooSox starter Bryan Mata was stellar, striking out a career-high 10 over 5.1 innings of work. Two men reached against him in the sixth: one on a third strike wild pitch and the second on a walk on his 100th and final pitch of the day. Worcester went to Darwinzon Hernandez out of the bullpen, who struck out Dominic Smith before allowing a game-tying three-run home run to Gosuke Katoh, a ball that easily cleared the wall in right.
The two teams combined for four runs in extra innings, as Worcester played its first 11-inning game of the year.
The WooSox play their final home game of the season on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. against the Syracuse Mets. On the mound, Kyle Hart (5-2, 5.34) is the scheduled starter for Worcester. Radio coverage is live at 12:45 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network, while television coverage is on NESN.
• Discuss this story on the International League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
