Mickey Gasper Homers Twice, Drives In Five to Power WooSox Win

Mickey Gasper announced himself as the WooSox's most dangerous bat in St. Paul, clubbing a solo home run and a bases-clearing grand slam Monday to match his career high with five RBIs, lifting Triple-A Worcester past the Saints in a 11-9 extra-inning thriller at CHS Field.

Gasper, optioned from Boston's MLB roster before the season, wasted no time against the St. Paul Saints, his former club. He drove a first-pitch cutter 405 feet over the right-field wall in the opening frame to put Worcester on top 1-0. One inning later, with the bases loaded, he punished the Saints again with a grand slam over the left-center field wall, his third homer of the season, extending the WooSox lead to 5-0 and all but blowing the game open.

Kristian Campbell kept the damage going immediately after Gasper's slam, taking the next pitch deep for a back-to-back shot to right field, pushing Worcester to a commanding 6-0 advantage. The WooSox had built an 8-1 cushion through three innings before St. Paul began chipping away, eventually tying the contest at eight on a 427-foot solo blast by Alan Roden with the Saints down to their final out in the seventh. Worcester's bullpen steadied, and the WooSox pushed through for two more runs in extras to seal the 11-9 victory, capping a dominant 5-0 series run at CHS Field and lifting the team to a 6-2 overall record.

The performance carried extra weight given the context. Gasper spent time with St. Paul earlier in his career, meaning his destruction of the Saints' pitching staff carried a storyline the crowd of 2,701 couldn't ignore. The MiLB highlight package capturing both home runs was picked up by MLB.com's national feed, a signal that the performance resonated well beyond Worcester's regional following.

The two-homer night also reinforced why the Red Sox organization values Gasper's versatility. Capable of lining up behind the plate or at first base, he gives Worcester's manager lineup flexibility without surrendering any production at the bottom of the order. His .855 OPS across 94 games at Worcester a season ago already marked him as one of the International League's more reliable offensive forces; the early-season power surge suggests he is picking up where he left off, making a case for a return to the big-league roster before long.