With Greenville and Salem being done for the year, all eyes are on the teams closest to the Major Leagues as the Red Sox make a mad dash towards October. This year played out a bit differently, as many of the guys that may be able to make a difference on this team offensively have already sniffed the bigs for at least part of the season. Even in a bullpen game, the arms kept it close with 13 Iron Pigs (Phillies AAA) strikeouts. A lot of the commotion on the box score was courtesy of Braiden Ward and Mikey Romero, who each tallied three hits. Ward finished a home run shy of the cycle on a night where the only home run of the game came from Lehigh Valley’s Otto Ward, a birthday boy today.
However, even more than the blown save and subsequent walk off the WooSox suffered in Allentown, the most eyebrow-raising thing on the box score was both Kristian Campbell and Romy Gonzalez being replaced (they were both hitless, but Hickey’s pinch for Gonzalez came after just one at-bat.) Romy has been tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A, and a move may be coming in several different directions. Connor Wong may see his time with the team coming to a close with Willson Contreras about to return to the team and Mickey Gasper swinging to catcher with a promotion of a defensively capable Gonzalez, or there may be some smoke to the rumors of a struggling Andruw Monasterio packing his locker up, though that report was days ago now. Nevertheless, it’s that time of year to make sweeping conclusions of a footnote in a box score and speculate the implications upon a team trying to make an October run.
Speaking of guys that might make an appearance in some capacity on a team rolling through their magic number before a playoff birth, Tanner Houck made his first pitching appearance since a 2025 Tommy John surgery. It was pretty apparent through his uphill battle to be seen as a decent rotation piece to begin last season, he was playing through an injury. He was very serviceable in 2024 and was a borderline ace in a season where this team lacked one, or at the very least a reliable front of the rotation guy worthy of his first All-Star selection, and it’s really good to see him on the mound again.
These well wishes didn’t fare Houck very well as he allowed a run by walking two to start the fifth inning, but Dalton Rogers also got tripped up by this Binghamton (Mets AA) lineup and he’s been pitching all year. Joe Vogatsky came in and gave the offense enough time to get back on track, and boy did they, as the team had seven different hitters record an extra-base hit including a key one in the 8th inning from Ronald Rosario as his 14th of the season put the Sea Dogs up for good.
Tuesday’s game was named “Anything Can Happen Day” by the team, and even with this team continuing to hit and winning despite three offensive errors, nothing too crazy over a run-of-the-mill game occurred. But there’s plenty to celebrate in a late go-ahead home run to start the last series of 2026.
