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| Luke Ritter hits a three-run home run in game one of Thursday's doubleheader (Herm Card - herm4444@gmail.com). |
Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets bounced right back from a loss in the first half of Thursday's doubleheader, taking the second half of the twin bill to earn a split against the Durham Bulls (Triple-A Tampa Bay Rays) on a sunny and pleasant night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have won six of their first nine home games to start the 2023 season and remain just two games back of first place in the International League.
Early on in the first game of the doubleheader, it looked like Durham would run away with the game. The Bulls scored four times in the top of the second inning to grab a big early lead, highlighted by a two-run home run from Ruben Cardenas and an RBI single for Curtis Mead. Durham sent the side to the plate in the top of the second inning, combining three hits with an error to push the four runs across home plate.
Syracuse, true to form this season, would surge right back into the ballgame, scoring three times in the bottom of the second inning. All the runs came via one big swing. After a groundout to start the inning, Jaylin Davis and Ronny Mauricio both singled to put two runners on base with one out. Luke Ritter then came to the plate and lifted a drive over the left-field fence, slicing the deficit to 4-3. It was the first Triple-A game of the season for Ritter, who began the season with Double-A Binghamton.
The Bulls and Mets each scored again in the top of the third inning. Durham made it a 6-3 game via a two-run homer from Ruben Cardenas, and then Syracuse turned it into a 6-4 game in the home half of the third. Danny Mendick reached on an error to start the inning, Mark Vientos singled him to third, and Jonathan Araúz brought Mendick home with a sacrifice fly to right-center field.
From there, the frustration mounted for the Mets. Syracuse consistently put runners on base down the stretch of the ballgame, yet could not bring a single one of them home. The home team left the bases loaded in the fourth, two runners on base in the fifth and sixth, and yet another runner on base in the bottom of the seventh (the final inning in a doubleheader). By the end of the game, the Mets had left 12 total runners on the basepaths.
Durham took advantage of Syracuse's woes bringing runners home, tacking on two insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning to seal the win. Osleivis Basabe and Kyle Manzardo had consecutive two-out RBI singles to push the lead to 8-4 and secure the losing fate for the Mets.
Game two of the doubleheader took on a totally different tone from the first game, which had featured 19 combined hits between the two teams. The first four innings of the second half of the twin bill featured exactly one combined hit as each team utilized solid starting pitching. David Griffin made his first start of the season for Syracuse (11-7) in style, allowing just one hit in three scoreless innings with three walks and four strikeouts. Trevor Brigden matched Griffin on the other side for Durham (10-7), tossing three hitless and scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Most impressively, Brigden did not walk anybody in his outing.
It remained a scoreless game into the bottom of the fifth inning when the Mets finally broke the scoring seal. First, Ronny Mauricio chopped a one-out single into left field to hand Syracuse its first hit of the night. Then, Michael Perez came to the plate and blew that scoring seal wide open, crushing a hanging breaking ball over the right-field wall to surge Syracuse to a 2-0 lead that it would never relinquish. It was the second home run of the season for Perez, who also homered at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last week.
In the sixth, Durham refused to go quietly when René Pinto homered leading off the top of the inning. In the bottom half of the frame, Syracuse secured its two-run lead again by playing a little small ball. First, Danny Mendick doubled leading off the inning. Then, after a strikeout, Mendick took a big lead off of second base and swiped third with a creative slide. On the next pitch after the steal of third, Araúz lofted a fly ball deep enough into right field for a sacrifice fly to score Mendick and make it a 3-1 lead for the home team. Araúz has driven in runs in each of the first three games of the series.
The Mets closed out the win in the top of the seventh. Grant Hartwig worked around a two-walk walk to earn his second six-out save of the season. Hartwig continued his brilliant start to the 2023 season. In six outings, the Metro Detroit native has allowed just one earned run in nine innings, racking up 11 strikeouts during that time.
Syracuse is home all this week, playing six games from Tuesday through Sunday against the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Durham Bulls. Game four in the week-long series is set for 6:35 p.m. on Friday.
Luke Ritter’s first AAA at-bat of the season cuts a 4-run deficit to just one! #UseTheForceLuke 💪
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) April 20, 2023
4-3 Bulls as we go to the 3rd pic.twitter.com/Hgi7v6Xrpa
Welcome to Syracuse, Nolan Clenney! He Ks two in his first AAA inning, including this strikeout of Curtis Mead! ☄️
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) April 20, 2023
Still 6-4 Durham in the fourth pic.twitter.com/648aWfB4UB
We’re five innings into a scoreless Game 2! David Griffin and Josh Walker have allowed only two hits and combined for seven strikeouts, capped by this K of Tristan Grey! pic.twitter.com/398l4lpujw
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) April 21, 2023
Come for the game-untying Michael Perez blast 💣
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) April 21, 2023
Stay for the absolutely immaculate fan catch on the Salt City Deck
Stay even longer for @evstockton’s most priceless one-liner to date
This one has everything, folks pic.twitter.com/ywD33lzoXC
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