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The WooSox graduate another prospect to the majors as Jhostynxon Garcia is promoted to Red Sox
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- The WooSox graduate another prospect to the majors as Jhostynxon Garcia is promoted to Red Sox
WORCESTER -- On a sleepy Thursday afternoon ahead of a doubleheader, WooSox bench coach Iggy Suarez was sitting in his usual pre-game spot behind a machine doling out ground balls for drills. Then he got a call from manager Chad Tracy.
“Are you super busy?” Tracy asked. “Maybe...” was the reply, fishing for more info. But when he heard why he was needed, he ran into the clubhouse to be there when Jhostynxon Garcia got the news that he was headed to the majors.
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With Wilyer Abreu headed to the injured list, the Red Sox made the decision to put Garcia on the fast track to the majors, much like his former WooSox and current Red Sox teammates Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer . Garcia only played 66 games in Triple A before getting the call, but he dominated the level almost from the get-go. Garcia hit .303/.367/.564 over his three months with the WooSox, and smacked 17 home runs, good for the WooSox team lead by four bombs.
When Garcia got the news from Tracy in the manager’s office a couple hours before the 4:05 p.m. first pitch, he let a big smile creep across his face as he put the pieces together about what the news meant.
"I had the urge to cry‚" Garcia said through Suarez translating. “It’s definitely a dream come true, a dream I had since I was little.”
His first call was to his parents, and he said “it was just group tears on that phone call,” said Garcia.
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He also got congratulations from his teammates, first and foremost Bryan Mata . Suarez said it seemed like the news really seemed to hit him once his teammates started celebrating with him.
The 22-year-old said he wasn’t necessarily expecting Thursday to be the day that his major-league dreams came true. He was in the lineup for game one of Thursday’s doubleheader, and asked Tracy if he thought he’d be in the lineup in New York in just a few hours.
He got the night off ultimately, getting on a 3:55 p.m. flight to New York after getting a lift from a WooSox clubbie .
Garcia will get into the mix in the outfield for the Red Sox, but probably won’t be seeing much, if any, time at first base given that he’s played there only once, and is still a work in progress in the infield.
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Jumbo Shrimp 4, WooSox 0
Jumbo Shrimp 11, WooSox 4
In the first game, the WooSox lineup struggled without its biggest power bat in Garcia. Nick Sogard had a pair of hits atop the lineup and Phillip Sikes went 2-for-3, but the WooSox couldn’t push across a run.
David Sandlin pitched in relief and allowed a couple of walks but got through a clean inning. Chris Murphy also walked three but tossed two scoreless frames. Starter Jose De Leon was touched for three runs on five hits and two walks.
In the second game, the WooSox took an early lead on an RBI single from Trayce Thompson and a sacrifice from Kristian Campbell .
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Then came a disastrous fifth inning. Connolly Early had been cruising through his first four innings, working around a jam in the third but keeping the potent Jumbo Shrimps lineup off the board. But four straight singles to start the fifth with a wild pitch and a catcher’s interference call mixed in led to five runs off of Early and drove him out of the game. Neither Hobie Harris nor Wyatt Olds could tame the Jacksonville lineup, each getting touched for three runs.
The WooSox rallied for a pair in the seventh. Mikey Romero had a two-hit night, and Corey Rosier went 2-for-2 with a walk and a double.
What’s Next
The WooSox continue their series against the Jumbo Shrimp with first pitch at 6:45 p.m. on Friday night.
Read the original article on MassLive .
