Cup of Coffee: Gudiño fires 5 scoreless frames as WooSox take series from Mets

4/3 Cup of Coffee: Much like the big-league club, Worcester capped off the weekend with a series victory at Polar Park. Led by a strong pitching performance from Norwith Gudino (pictured) and multi-hit efforts from the bottom third of the lineup, the WooSox defeated the Syracuse Mets by a final score of 8-1 to improve to 2-1 on the young season.

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Worcester Red Sox 8, Syracuse Mets (NYM) 1 

Minor-league signee Norwith Gudino made the most of his organizational debut on Sunday afternoon. The 27-year-old right-hander got the start for Worcester and scattered just two hits and three walks over five scoreless innings of work. Interestingly enough, he did not strike out any of the 20 batters he faced. Of the 80 pitches he threw, 49 went for strikes. Out of the WooSox bullpen, minor-league Rule 5 pickup Joe Jacques allowed one run on two hits in the sixth before Chase Shugart, Ryan Sherriff, and Andrew Politi combined for three scoreless frames the rest of the way.

 

Daniel Palka got the scoring started for Worcester by plating David Hamilton on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the first. In the latter half of the fourth, Ryan Fitzgerald and Ronaldo Hernandez tacked on another run with back-to-back doubles off Syracuse starter Jose Butto. Greg Allen capped off a four-run seventh inning with a two-run double. Palka and Fitzgerald then extended the lead with an RBI single and run-scoring groundout in the eighth. Fitzgerald, Hernandez, and Allen -- the Nos. 7, 8, and 9 hitters in the WooSox' lineup -- combined to go 6 for 14 with three doubles, four RBIs, and one run scored. Jarren Duran drew three walks out of the leadoff spot while Bobby Dalbec tripled, walked twice, and scored two runs out of the three-hole. Hamilton also stole his second base of the season.

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Player of the Day: Though he was used strictly as a reliever during spring training, it goes without saying that Norwith Gudino got his 2023 season off to an encouraging start. The native Venezuelan joined the Red Sox on a minor league pact over the winter after spending the first eight years of his professional career in the San Francisco organization. He works with a four-seam fastball, a slider, and a splitter and topped out at 93.3 mph with his heater on Sunday.

Photo Credit: Norwith Gudino by Kelly O'Connor

 

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