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Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets surged in front with a five-run bottom of the eighth inning, stringing pivotal two-out hits and walks together en route to a comeback, 10-6 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on a sunny Wednesday night at NBT Bank Stadium (Box Score). The Mets are in the midst of their best stretch of baseball this season. Syracuse has won 10 of its last 15 games, including the first two games in a six-game series against Lehigh Valley this week.
Syracuse (30-43) made its winning charge in the bottom of the eighth, as five hits plus two pivotal walks gave the home team a 10-6 lead it would never relinquish. The Mets entered the frame trailing, 6-5. After a Luke Ritter strikeout to start the inning, Gosuke Katoh and Quinn Brodey singled to put runners on first and third with one out. Kramer Robertson then chopped a groundball to second base that Lehigh Valley elected to throw home, gunning down Katoh at the plate for the second out. However, it did extend the inning and put two runners on base with two outs – Robertson's groundball looked like it had the potential to be an inning-ending double play groundout. Syracuse took advantage of its lifeline. First, Khalil Lee walked to load the bases and extend the inning, followed by a Mark Vientos bases-loaded walk that plated Brodey and tied the game, 6-6. Travis Blankenhorn came to the plate with the bases loaded and promptly unloaded them, laser-beaming a line drive off the center-field wall to score three runs put Syracuse in front, 9-6, in a flash. Patrick Mazeika then singled home Blankenhorn to make it 10-6 and complete the flurry of late runs for the Mets.
Mazeika has proven to be a pivotal piece since returning to Syracuse, going a combined 5-for-8 the last two games with a home run and three RBIs. Wednesday night continued what has been a torrid pace for Blankenhorn. In his last 36 games, the 25-year-old has reached in 32 of them, batting .359 since May 12th with 18 extra-base hits, including 13 doubles, and 24 RBIs.
Early on, it looked like this one may not be a tight ballgame. The Mets roared out to a 4-1 lead after two innings, plating three runs in the first and another run in the second. In the first, Kramer Robertson reached on an error to start the game. Robertson was making his season debut with Syracuse on Wednesday night after having played with Memphis (Triple-A St. Louis Cardinals) and Gwinnett (Triple-A Atlanta Braves) so far this season. Robertson swiped second to move up to scoring position with nobody out, followed by a Khalil Lee double that one-hopped the left-field wall and allowed Robertson to score easily for a 1-0 edge. The Mets weren't done there, as Mark Vientos promptly came to the plate and pounded a pitch over the right-field wall to make it 3-0 Syracuse in the blink of an eye. Vientos now has 12 home runs in 53 Triple-A games.
Lehigh Valley (40-34) briefly slimmed the deficit to 3-1 with a run in the top of the second. Donny Sands and Rafael Marchan combined a pair of doubles to bring a tally home to make it a 3-1 ballgame.
The Mets promptly boosted the lead back up to three with another run in the second. Katoh led off the frame with a single and scored when the next batter, Brodey, laced a double into the right-field corner as Syracuse took a 4-1 advantage. Brodey singled later in the game. Since returning from Double-A Binghamton, the former Stanford Cardinal has gone a combined 8-for-27 at the plate with five extra-base hits.
In the top of the fourth, the IronPigs flipped the script. Lehigh Valley plated four runs on four hits to take its first lead of the night at 5-4 with two pivotal hits providing the pop in the inning. Daniel Robertson had a two-out, two-run double that cut the Syracuse lead to one, 4-3. Then, two batters later, Will Toffey picked up a two-run double to put the IronPigs on top for the first time in the evening, 5-4. Toffey has had an excellent start to the series, going a combined 4-for-10 in the first two games with two doubles and two RBIs.
Syracuse struck right back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring a run in curious fashion. Khalil Lee led off with a single and moved up to second when Blankenhorn was hit by a pitch with one out. Mazeika then came to the plate with two on base and one out, rolling a soft groundball to the right side of the infield. The ball eluded the glove of the pitcher and ended up with the second baseman Scott Kingery, who tried to flip the ball to first but ended up throwing the ball away down the first-base line. That allowed Lee to run all the way home and knot the game back up, 5-5.
In the top of the sixth, it was the IronPigs turn to take the lead again. A one-out double by Daniel Robertson put him on second base, a fielding error advanced him to third, and a wild pitch brought him home and put the road team back in front, 6-5. Robertson has sprinted out to a strong start in the series, going a combined 3-for-8 in the first two games with two doubles, two runs scored, and three RBIs.
While Syracuse's offense grabbed the late headlines with the five-run eighth inning, the Mets bullpen had kept them in the ballgame in the prior innings. Yennsy Diaz, Rob Zastryzny, Stephen Nogosek, and Michel Otanez combined to toss five and one-third excellent innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits with five strikeouts and zero walks. Nogosek deserves particular praise, working two perfect relief innings with two strikeouts to boot.
Syracuse continues its homestand at NBT Bank Stadium on Thursday night to continue its six-game series against the Leigh Valley IronPigs. Right-hander Trevor Cahill is scheduled to start for the Mets, opposed by left-hander Kent Emmanuel for the IronPigs. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.
OPPO 🌮@MarkVientos_5 crushed a two-run homer to right for the @SyracuseMets. pic.twitter.com/LrZFGrhWUz
— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) June 30, 2022
We just tied the game up on whatever the heck this was 😮
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) June 30, 2022
5-all after 5 pic.twitter.com/vqOwygPRaS
We’ve scored 5 runs, all with 2 outs, in the bottom of the 8th - including this 3-run double by Travis Blankenhorn, the hottest hitter in the galaxy
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) June 30, 2022
10-6 us pic.twitter.com/tEL8zF5aQQ
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