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| Carlos Cortes watching a ball he hit fly over the right-field wall for a two-run home run on Saturday night (Herm Card - herm4444@gmail.com). |
Syracuse Mets Press Release: Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets fell in frustrating fashion once again on Saturday night, losing in ten innings to the Louisville Bats (Triple-A Cincinnati Reds) by a 6-4 final at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have now lost the first five games in the six-game series. Syracuse missed multiple opportunities, going 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
Syracuse (19-31) received a
start from pitcher David Peterson that truly had a little bit of everything. On
the one hand, Peterson showcased some wicked stuff throughout the outing,
striking out ten batters in his four and two-third innings of work. Those ten
strikeouts tied a career high. Every single one of his strikeouts was a
swinging strikeout, utilizing a tantalizing offering of breaking balls to keep
Louisville (26-23) batters off balance. In fact, Peterson struck out each of
the first six batters he faced on Saturday night swinging.
However, there was also some
bad in Peterson’s outing. By the time he was relieved from the game after 102
pitches, the left-hander had allowed four runs on six hits plus five walks. The
rough inning for Peterson was the third inning as he allowed three of his runs
and five of his hits in that frame alone. Nine Louisville batters came to the
plate in the third, highlighted by a home run from Chuckie Robinson, his third
of the week.
The Mets offense hung around
early, scoring twice in the second and once in the fifth to make it a 4-3 game
entering the later innings. In the second, Carlos Cortes smacked a two-run home
run to put Syracuse on the board offensively for a 2-0 lead. In the fifth,
Cortes did it again, driving in Lorenzo Cedrola via an RBI double to make it a
4-3 ballgame. Cortes also had two doubles and homered in Tuesday night’s game,
starting what has turned out to be a strong week at the plate for the former
South Carolina Gamecock. Cortes has six hits and has reached base nine times in
the first five games of the series.
In the bottom of the seventh,
the Mets knotted the game back up via some timely hitting. Down, 4-3, entering
the frame and with one out, Nick Meyer singled to put a runner on base. Danny Mendick was then hit by a pitch to put two runners on base with one out,
bringing Luis Guillorme to the plate. Guillorme fell down in the count 0-2, but
then he got the job done, grounding a single into center field to score Meyer
and tie the game, 4-4.
However, from there, the Mets
could not score and take the lead, continuing quite the frustrating theme.
Syracuse left two runners on base in each inning from the sixth through ninth
and ten total runners on base in the first nine innings of the ballgame.
Syracuse left 31 total runners on base in the first four games of the
series.
In the bottom of the ninth was
particularly frustrating for the Mets. Danny Mendick singled to start the
inning and moved to second on a groundout, putting the winning run on second
base with one out. Ronny Mauricio was intentionally walked, placing runners on
first and second base with one out. A Jaylin Davis strikeout briefly quelled
the momentum, bringing Jonathan Araúz to the plate with the game on the line. A
wild pitch moved each runner up a case, suddenly putting the winning run just
90 feet away from home. However, Araúz struck out to leave two runners in
scoring position and send the game to extra innings.
While the Mets offense was
struggling to provide the knockout punch, their bullpen held down the fort. TJ McFarland, Dennis Santana, and Zach Muckenhirn combined to toss four and
one-third scoreless relief innings, allowing three hits with three walks and
two strikeouts. Muckenhirn once again was rock solid out of the pen, tossing
two hitless innings with two strikeouts and a walk. The left-hander, who made
his MLB debut earlier this season, has been about as good a reliever as you’ll
find in the Triple-A ranks. In en appearances with the Syracuse Mets, Muckenhirn
has allowed just two earned runs in 21 and one-thirds innings, good for a 0.84
ERA.
In the top of the tenth,
Louisville scored twice to make it 6-4 and put the game out of reach. Christian
Encarnacion-Strand began the frame as the free runner at second base, advancing
to third on a one-out flyout from TJ Hopkins. Michael Siani was then
intentionally walked and promptly swiped second base to put two runners in
scoring position with two outs. Then, a wild pitch scored Hopkins and a single
from Robinson plated Siani and made it a 6-4 game seemingly in the blink of an
eye. The Mets couldn’t muster up any offense in the bottom of the tenth,
falling in extra innings for the second time this week. Syracuse also lost in
ten innings in Thursday night’s game.
Syracuse wraps up its six-game
series at NBT Bank Stadium against the Louisville Bats on Sunday evening. The
series finale is set for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Sunday night. Right-hander
José Butto is scheduled to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Teddy
Stankiewicz for the Bats.
Carlos Cortes: 2nd HR of the week
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 27, 2023
It’s a two-run shot that puts us on top 💪
2-0 SMets in the 2nd pic.twitter.com/4GUX9vRcC1
We 🧡 Luis Guillorme
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 28, 2023
This RBI single ties the game at 4 in the seventh
Let’s give him the blue heart too 💙 pic.twitter.com/KLi62RGOK8
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