Worcester tops Buffalo, powers past rehabbing Dylan Cease 5-1

Worcester did more than beat Buffalo on Thursday night. It tagged rehabbing Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease for five runs in four innings, rode two early home runs at Polar Park and walked away with a 5-1 win that carried real major-league relevance.

The WooSox set the tone fast. Tsung-Che Cheng crushed a two-run, 426-foot homer to center in the second inning, and Braiden Ward followed with a solo shot in the third. That was the difference-maker stretch, because Worcester scored all five of its runs in the first three innings and never had to scramble late to protect the lead.

For Cease, it was a rough first step back. Making his first start since going on the Toronto Blue Jays’ 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain on May 25, he allowed six hits and a walk while striking out six over 75 pitches. Worcester made him work through traffic and punished mistakes, turning what was supposed to be a rehab checkpoint into a statement win against one of the most accomplished arms in the Toronto organization.

That distinction matters. Before the injury, Cease was 3-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 11 big-league starts for Toronto, and his 92 strikeouts in 62 innings led the American League. He is not some anonymous rehabbing pitcher passing through Triple-A. He is the kind of arm clubs expect to handle a game like this, which is why Worcester’s power surge felt like more than a normal affiliate win.

Osvaldo Berrios made sure the offense held up. In his WooSox debut, he fired three scoreless innings in relief and earned the win as part of a four-pitcher effort that limited Buffalo to one run and six hits. Buffalo’s only damage came in the seventh, when Jonatan Clase hit a solo homer.

The result also pushed Worcester back over .500 at 29-28, a useful lift in a series that has already swung wildly. Buffalo blanked Worcester 12-0 on June 3, Worcester answered with a 3-2 win on June 2, and now the WooSox have taken another game from a lineup featuring Cease on rehab and Max Scherzer scheduled to start the next day. That is not ordinary Triple-A traffic. It is a ballpark serving as a proving ground for pitchers whose next stop could change a rotation picture in Toronto.