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Even during a rough week in St. Paul, the RailRiders kept on slugging home runs. On Tuesday, it paid off in an slump-busting win.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre took the Triple-A lead in homers by smashing three in an 8-6 victory to open a week-long series in Worcester.
But it was far from stress-free, as the RailRiders watched an eight-run lead get whittled down to two as the Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before falling short.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s escape ended a four-game skid that included multiple blown lead during last week’s 1-5 performance against the Saints.
Rodolfo Duran hit a three-run shot in the second and Andres Chaparro added one of his own in the fifth to make it 6-0. Chaparro tied Jake Bauers for the team lead with eight homers for exactly two at-bats, as Bauers clubbed his ninth later in the fifth to put the RailRiders up 8-0.
The Sox were down 8-4 heading into the ninth. But a single, an error and a hit by pitch loaded the bases against Deivi Garcia, who was pulled for James Norwood with two outs.
Norwood gave up a two-run double to Bobby Dalbec that made it 8-6 and issued a walk before striking out Jorge Alfaro to end the game.
Ryan Weber went 5.2 innings for the win. Jamie Westbrook had two hits at the plate.