Castro’s 12th-inning walk-off homer lifts WooSox over RailRiders 10-8

Allan Castro finally put an end to the night at Polar Park, launching a two-run homer leading off the bottom of the 12th as the Worcester Red Sox outlasted the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 10-8 in the longest game in WooSox history by innings.

The finish came after Worcester kept letting the game slip farther from reach. The WooSox led 7-4 in the ninth, then watched Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rally from three runs down to force a 7-7 tie. Both clubs scored once in the 11th, stretching the chaos another inning before Castro’s drive sent the crowd home and handed Worcester a 2-1 series lead.

The game’s strangest turning point came on the mound, where first baseman Nathan Hickey delivered the kind of emergency performance that can define a Triple-A night. Hickey worked a scoreless top of the 12th, got Oswaldo Cabrera to bounce into a double play, and earned the win. It was the fourth time this season Worcester had turned to Hickey in a pitching emergency, a reminder of how often the club has had to improvise while chasing wins in the International League East.

Braiden Ward was just as important to Worcester’s survival act. The outfielder reached base three times, scored twice, stole two bases and turned in a pair of highlight catches near the wall. One of those trips came after he was hit by a pitch, his 11th of the season, which led the league. The two steals pushed Ward to 16 for the year, second in the league, and added another layer to a line that already included a growing offensive impact for the 27-year-old from Turlock, California.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had its own fireworks. Duke Ellis went 4-for-5 and hit his first home run of the season, while catcher Edinson Duran handled the final 2.1 innings and took the loss. Worcester’s early lead, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s late push, and the back-and-forth through 12 innings turned a regular-season game into a statement win for a WooSox club that entered the night tied with Syracuse atop the division and one game ahead of the RailRiders. After Tuesday’s 7-6 opener, Wednesday’s 9-7 RailRiders win in 10, and Thursday’s marathon, Worcester moved to 20-15 while Scranton/Wilkes-Barre fell to 19-16.