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| Danny Mendick's home run swing in the bottom of the first inning on Friday night at NBT Bank Stadium (Photo by Herm Card - herm4444@gmail.com). |
Syracuse Mets Press Release: Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets fell a little short in a Friday night barnburner against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Triple-A Philadelphia Phillies), dropping a 9-6 decision at NBT Bank Stadium. The two teams combined for 15 runs and 19 hits in the game, one night after scoring just seven combined runs on 11 combined hits. The five-game series is now tied at one game apiece.
Early on, each team took turns
scoring runs. In the bottom of the first, Danny Mendick got the scoring started
for Syracuse (23-36) when he launched a solo home run over the left-field fence
for a 1-0 Mets lead. Mendick has now homered in each of the first two games of
this week’s series.
Lehigh Valley (30-28) then
responded and briefly took the lead with single runs in the second and third
innings. In the second, Jim Haley singled, moved to second on a Jordan Qsar
walk, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a John Hicks sacrifice
fly. In the top of the third, the IronPigs grabbed a 2-1 lead when Weston Wilson
smacked a solo home run to left field.
In the bottom of the third, the
Mets tied it right back up at two when Mendick walked to start the frame, moved
to second on a Ronny Mauricio groundout, and scored on an RBI single from TylerWhite to knot the game up, 2-2. White may be the early stages of his Syracuse
Mets career, but he’s already made an impression. In his first seven games,
White has eight hits including the two he had on Friday night.
From there, the game tilted
firmly in favor of Lehigh Valley. The road team scored the next seven runs to
surge to a 9-2 lead, powered by two pivotal long balls. In the top of the
fifth, Darick Hall launched a three-run homer with two outs in the inning to
make it a 5-2 edge for the IronPigs.
In the sixth, after Haley had
singled and Qsar had walked to put two runners on base with nobody out, Hicks
crushed another three-run shot over the fence to make it an 8-2 game in the
blink of an eye. The IronPigs added yet another run later in the sixth on a
sacrifice fly from Hall that drove in Jake Cave, completing a four-run flurry
and a 9-2 lead entering the bottom of the sixth.
From there, the Mets began
slimming the deficit. In the bottom of the sixth, Syracuse broke out their own
big bats, smacking back-to-back homers to get right back in the ballgame.
First, after Jaylin Davis walked starting the inning, Jonathan Araúz lined a
shot over the right-field wall for a two-run blast to make it a 9-4 game. The
very next batter, Carlos Cortes, promptly stepped to the plate and hit a solo
homer of his own to turn it into a 9-5 game. The consecutive home runs marked
the fifth time this season the Mets have hit back-to-back homers in a game.
They have done the feat twice this season against Lehigh Valley.
In the bottom of the eighth,
the Mets got closer again with another run to make it a 9-6 game. With one out,
Araúz tripled off the to right-center field to get the rally started. After a
Carlos Cortes walk, Nick Meyer came to the plate and lofted a ball deep enough
into right field for a sac fly to plate Araúz and make it four unanswered runs
for the Mets and a 9-6 ballgame. Meyer was the fifth different Syracuse player
to drive in at least one run in the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, the
Mets looked like they may have a little magic on their side when Mendick
reached on an error to start the inning. However, from there, the potential
rally fizzled out when the next three batters went down in order to complete
the 9-6 defeat for the Mets. Syracuse is now 9-23 in its last 32 games with 18
of those 23 losses coming by four runs or less.
Syracuse is home all week
hosting the Lehigh Valley IronPigs at NBT Bank Stadium. Games three and four of
the five-game series are set for Saturday. The first game of the doubleheader
is slated to begin at 4:05 p.m. José Butto is scheduled to pitch the first half
of the doubleheader for the Mets with Alex Valverde set to go in the second
game.
Danny Mendick: home runs early and often 💪
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) June 9, 2023
He puts us up 1-0 with this solo shot in the first! pic.twitter.com/QSliDLM3sK
Tie-ler White 🙄
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) June 9, 2023
Sorry, had to do it
He knots this one up at 2 with this third-inning single pic.twitter.com/Y4zD95ehqe
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