WORCESTER — After completing the first no-hitter in VUSOX history, the team put on another strong pitching display, this time from starter Chris Murphy, to defeat Durham 5-1 at Polar Park on Friday night.
Enmanuel Valdez, who joined the Red Sox team in a trade with Christian Vazquez, hit his second home run since joining the Vusoxs on Wednesday. This time it was a three-run shot in the third, which was good for the 24th of the season between the three teams and the two tiers.
“First of all I want to thank God, He is the one who helps me every day. But I want to work hard every day to help us win,” Valdez said afterwards in Spanish to NESN’s Cooper Boardman.
Honestly, Cordero has come a long way for Vusox too.
Murphy was coming off some of his toughest stretches of the season and was looking to recapture what he had shown in his early starts in Triple A. The left-hander’s lead in the first innings was a bit shaky as he nearly worked twice, but he’s settled into one of his best performances of the season. Murphy didn’t necessarily dominate all the time, but he worked nearly six hits and four walks to keep the Bulls on just one run.
“She has a tendency” [to start slow] Sometimes the first hitters. About halfway through the second inning I think he really settled in,” said Woosox manager Chad Tracy. “Once he found it, he had it and kept it almost all the time. That was wonderful. Seven good innings. Once he found the zone, he was strong in it. His fast ball hit him and got a lot of pop ups and weak ground balls. He made a great pitch.
The revised Vusox lineup was less than a 12-run blast Thursday, but they still hit five of six. Cordero gave the Vuocs an early lead, sending Bulls starter Taj Bradley’s third pitch of the game, his fourth home run of the season with Worcester, 467 feet down the middle.
The top of the lineup made noise again in game three as Cordero hit a single, Abraham Almonte doubled and Valdez brought one to left field, his second in three games.
“It’s so different. It’s a very dangerous top half. We have a bottom half that also scraps it and trains you and they find their way to the base. It’s such a great top 6 or something like that.” That’s just loops to pitch it, while you’re pitching you have to hit your points.
Nick Sogard produced an insurance run for the Woosox in seventh place, stormed second and third bases and came home to land his third and fourth stolen bases of the season for Worcester.
James Norwood and Jack Kelly both played unscorted, hitless innings in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, tying the win.
The win helps the Worcesters gain some ground against the Bulls, one of four teams ahead of Worcester in International League standings.
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