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| José Peraza's home run swing in the bottom of the fifth inning on Friday for Syracuse (Herm Card - herm4444@gmail.com) |
Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets rallied back to tie the game but ultimately fell short to the Buffalo Bisons on Friday night, dropping a 4-2 decision at NBT Bank Stadium. The Bisons have now won three out of the first games in the series and ten out of the first 16 games in the season-long series against the Mets.
The Buffalo (45-48, 11-7) batters greeted Syracuse starting pitcher Luis Moreno rudely. The 24-year-old right-hander was making his Triple-A debut on the mound for Syracuse (38-54, 5-13), but two walks plus a fielding error allowed the Bisons to push across an unearned run in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, Buffalo loaded up the bases on Moreno with one out, forcing his early exit from the ballgame with an elevated pitch count of 92 pitches. A hit batter with the bases loaded forced across another run for Buffalo, but then a groundball double play allowed the Mets to escape the frame down just 2-0.
Moreno had a lot of good signs in his initial Triple-A outing on Friday night. Fresh up from Double-A Binghamton, the Dominican struck out five batters in three and one-third innings pitched while allowing just three hits and two runs but only one earned. However, his command was an issue at times. Moreno walked four batters and threw 55 strikes among the 92 total pitches in his start.
On the other end of the spectrum, Hyun-Jin Ryu dazzled early in his Major League rehab outing for the Bisons. The former MLB All-Star allowed just one hit and two baserunners in four scoreless frames to start his night. However, in the fifth, the Mets tagged Ryu with two different solo shots to tie the game up at two. Leading off the inning, Jonathan Araúz lifted a drive over the left-field wall to slim the deficit to one, 2-1. Then, with two outs, José Peraza lined a shot past the left-field wall to knot the game up, 2-2. Peraza, since returning from the Injured List on Thursday, has reached base five times with three hits and two runs scored.
Ryu would finish his rehab outing with a scoreless sixth, completing a strong performance at NBT Bank Stadium. The 36-year-old allowed just the two earned runs on three hits in six innings with one walk and five strikeouts. Ryu allowed just five baserunners in his six innings of work.
It remained a 2-2 ballgame into the top of the seventh when Buffalo burned Syracuse with a pair of two-out runs to take a 4-2 lead. With Addison Barger on second base with two outs, it looked like Syracuse could escape the inning with a 2-2 game still intact. It wasn't to be. A single from Spencer Horwitz plated Barger, followed by an RBI double from Otto Lopez that made it a 4-2 advantage for the Bisons. Three of the four runs for Buffalo in the game came with two outs.
From there, the bullpen for the Bisons slammed the door shut. Brandon Eisert worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning, Yosver Zulueta worked a scoreless eighth, and then Hagen Danner pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the victory for Buffalo. The Mets had just six baserunners in the entire game and only two baserunners in the final four innings. The pair of home runs were the only extra-base hits in the entire game for Syracuse.
Syracuse continues its nine-game homestand this entire week at NBT Bank Stadium, hosting the Buffalo Bisons in a six-game series. The fifth game of the series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Saturday night. Right-hander Mike Vasil is scheduled to start for the Mets against right-hander Paxton Schultz for the Bisons.
It's a brand-new ballgame! Fifth-inning jacks from Jonathan Araúz and José Peraza tie this one up at 2-2 💪💪 pic.twitter.com/4Jfz4ZFBWu
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) July 22, 2023
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