The Worcester Red Sox maintained a three-run lead against Iowa as both teams entered the bottom of the sixth inning on Friday night.
It wasn’t enough, though, as Forrest Wall countered with a grand slam to help the Cubs earn an impressive come-from-behind 9-6 win at Principal Park.
Worcester starting pitcher Richard Fitts allowed five hits, two earned runs, and struck out three in five innings of action.
Such effort wasn’t enough, though, as relief pitchers David Sandlin (four), Zack Kelly (two), and Bryan Mata (one) allowed seven earned runs in three innings of relief.
The Red Sox moved to 60-57 as they finished 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Complete game statistics can be found here.
After two combined innings of scoreless action, Jhostynxon Garcia changed that for Worcester with a double to plate David Hamilton. The road team wasn’t finished, though, as Kristian Campbell and Mikey Romero recorded run-scoring singles to move Worcester ahead 4-0.
But Iowa’s offense wasn’t silenced much longer, as Jonathon Long made it a three-run deficit with a solo home run to left-center field in the bottom of the third inning. That marked his 18th-season blast.
Hamilton continued the offensive stretch with a one-out sacrifice fly to left field that plated Corey Rosier. No lead was safe, though, as Wall countered with his own sacrifice fly with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it a 5-2 deficit.
Two innings later, Wall recorded his first-season blast to help the Cubs (57-60) erase their previous three-run deficit as they moved ahead for good.
Teammates Kevin Alcántara and Long helped build some insurance with run-scoring singles in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings.
Despite a run-scoring groundout by Nick Sogard, Iowa held on for the three-run victory. The Red Sox and Cubs will continue their series against each other on Saturday at 7:08 p.m. EST.
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