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| Carlos Cortes had this single plus a home run on Wednesday night for Syracuse (Herm Card). |
Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets scored the final six runs of the ballgame on their way to a 7-3 win over the Columbus Clippers on a sunny and pleasant Wednesday evening at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have now won the first two games against the Clippers to begin this week-long, six-game series.
Columbus (51-63, 18-22) got on the board first, tacking on single runs in the second and third innings to take an early 2-0 lead. In the second, Johnathan Rodriguez singled leading off the inning and then scored on a one-out, RBI single from George Valera. Rodriguez also homered in Tuesday night’s game. In the third inning, Chris Roller started the frame with an infield single, moved to third on a Daniel Schneemann single, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Bryan Lavastida.
In the bottom of the third, Syracuse (48-66, 14-26) got on the board when the leadoff batter, Joe Suozzi, lined a solo homer over the right-field fence to make it a 2-1 game. Suozzi now has three home runs in his first 12 games at the Triple-A level. All of Suozzi’s big flies have come at home at NBT Bank Stadium.
It remained a 2-1 game into the sixth inning when the Clippers tacked on a run to make it a 3-1 game. The damage came with two outs. Valera doubled to extend the inning, followed immediately by an RBI single from Zack Collins to plate the run and make it a two-run cushion again for Columbus. Valera is widely considered one of the best prospects in Cleveland’s minor-league system, but he had only played in 42 games this season entering this week’s series due to multiple injuries.
In the bottom of the sixth, Syracuse took their first lead of the night with a three-run flurry. It all started when Carlos Cortes reached on an error committed by Jose Tena at shortstop, followed by a Tomas Nido single that put two runners on base with nobody out. That was followed by a Nick Meyer single that loaded up the bases and brought Brandon McIlwain to the plate. The speedster chopped a groundball to shortstop that looked like it could be a double play, but Tena made yet another error. That scored Cortes and advanced everyone else up ninety feet in a 3-2 game. That was followed by a wild pitch to score Nido and tie the game, 3-3. A Suozzi walk proceeded a bases-loaded double play from Wyatt Young that did score Meyer and gave the Mets a 4-3 lead that they would never relinquish.
In the seventh, the Mets tacked on and made it a 5-3 game when Cortes launched a two-out, solo homer over the fence in right-center field. It was the first homer of the week for Cortes after launching three at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last week.
In the eighth, Syracuse put the game away with a pair of runs to up the lead to 7-3. The Mets managed to score both runs without registering a hit. Nick Meyer and Brandon McIlwain both walked to start the inning, each swiping third and second base respectively to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Then, after a Suozzi groundout, Young lofted a fly ball deep enough into center field to plate Meyer and then a wild pitch allowed McIlwain to prance home and make it a 7-3 game.
That would prove to be plenty of run support for the Syracuse Mets bullpen who locked the game down late. After Jose Chacin allowed two runs on four hits in his start that lasted four and one-third innings, the relievers sealed the deal. Dedniel Núñez, Eric Orze, William Woods, and Reed Garrett combined to work the final four and two-thirds innings, allowing just one earned run on two hits while striking out eight batters. The Clippers did not have a hit in the final three innings of the ballgame.
Syracuse continues its six-game series against the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday night. The third game of the series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start time with right-hander Denyi Reyes slated to start for the Mets against right-hander Peyton Battenfield for the Clippers.
Joe Suozzi of Glen Cove: show us Strong Island 💪 pic.twitter.com/BKlI2S1ZyP
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 16, 2023
Carlos Cortes cranks one and we’re up 5-3! Let’s go to the 8th pic.twitter.com/Wyv6GkwgbF
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 17, 2023
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