Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets rallied late but still fell short on Wednesday night, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A Toronto Blue Jays) on a perfectly sunny and pleasant evening at the ballpark. The Bisons have now taken the first two games in the week-long, six-game series.
Fresh off scoring 13 runs on 18 hits on Tuesday night, Buffalo (44-47, 10-6) got right back to work on Wednesday. The Bisons scored three runs in the first five innings on six total hits and frankly could have scored even more. Buffalo left eight runners on base combined in the first five innings of the game.
In the second, the Bisons scored the game's initial run when Rafael Lantigua singled to start the inning, moved to third on a one-out single from Stevie Berman, and scored on an RBI fielder's choice from Cameron Eden for a 1-0 advantage.
In the fourth, the lead grew to 2-0 when Tanner Morris doubled leading off the inning, moved to third after a pair of walks, and scored on an RBI groundout from Ernie Clement. Clement, a Rochester native, continued his remarkable success against the Mets this season. He had two hits on Wednesday night after a five-hit night on Tuesday. Clement is batting .514 (18-for-35) against the Mets so far on the campaign.
In the fifth, a pair of doubles from Orelvis Martinez and Lantigua brought the third tally of the evening home for Buffalo giving the Bisons a 3-0 lead. Martinez, a highly-touted prospect for Toronto, has impressed with a powerful bat in his initial outings in Triple-A. The 21-year-old homered in his Triple-A debut on Tuesday night and followed it up with a double and a run scored on Wednesday night.
While Buffalo would build the early lead, they certainly had the chance to put the game fully out of reach. In the first eight innings of the ballgame, the Bisons left 13 runners on base. Buffalo, even in their 13-run output last night, left a lot on the table in Tuesday night's game as well. The Bisons went just 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday evening.
While the Bisons offense put them in front early, the pitching from Buffalo kept Syracuse (37-53, 4-12) batters firmly in check in the first seven innings. Zach Thompson was downright brilliant in his start for Buffalo. The big right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, allowing just two baserunners in the first five innings on a pair of walks.
In the sixth, the Mets finally got to Thompson and got a run home. Consecutive singles from Tomas Nido and Danny Mendick to start the frame put runners on first and second. A groundout from Ronny Mauricio moved them each up 90 feet, and then another groundout from Mark Vientos allowed Nido to score from third and make it a 3-1 game.
In the eighth, with the game still at a 3-1 count, the Mets rallied back to knot the game up entering the top of the ninth. After Luke Ritter grounded out, Nido walked and Mendick singled to put two runners on base with one out, Mauricio roped a sharp single into shallow right field to seemingly load up the bases. However, the ball trickled through the right fielder's legs and rolled all the way to the wall, allowing both runners to score and knot the game up at three just like that.
Mauricio took second base on the error, later moving to third as the Mets loaded up the bags with two outs on walks to Vientos and Abraham Almonte. Luke Voit flied out to left field in the middle of those walks. Syracuse looked primed to take its first lead of the night, but Rafael Ortega then struck out to end the inning, leave the bases loaded, and keep the game tied.
Leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth would come back and haunt the Mets in the top of the ninth as Buffalo pushed across the game-winning run in rapid succession. L.J. Talley started off the inning with a single, promptly being removed for the pinch-running Otto Lopez. Lopez then stole second and scored on Tanner Morris' game-winning RBI single to give Buffalo a 4-3 lead.
The balanced attack from the Bisons doomed the Mets yet again on Wednesday night. Eight of the nine Buffalo starters reached base at least once, seven different players had at least one hit and four players had at least two hits.
Syracuse continues its nine-game homestand this entire week at NBT Bank Stadium, hosting the Buffalo Bisons for a six-game series. The third game of the series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Thursday night. Right-hander José Butto is scheduled to start for the Mets against right-hander Bowden Francis for the Bisons.
No comments:
Post a Comment