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| David Griffin, Syracuse Mets, Photo by Herm Card - herm4444@gmail.com |
Allentown, PA – The Syracuse Mets ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday night. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs scored 14 runs on 16 hits en route to a 14-6 win at Coca-Cola Park. The IronPigs have now won the first five games in the week-long, six-game series. Lehigh Valley has also won 16 of the 22 games played between the two teams this season.
Syracuse (52-76, 19-35) got off to an excellent start on Saturday night, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in emphatic fashion. With two outs and nobody on base, Daniel Palka launched a 436-foot home run beyond the right-field fence to hand the Mets an early one-run advantage. Palka has marked his return to the Syracuse Mets lineup with supreme authority. He has two home runs in his first week back in the organization, including a 460-foot home run in Wednesday night's game.
From there, however, it began to go downhill. Lehigh Valley (70-59, 34-22) scored the next eight runs in the ballgame, scoring three runs in the bottom of the third and five more times in the bottom of the fourth to all of a sudden take an 8-1 lead. In the third, Kody Clemens had an RBI double followed by an RBI triple from Weston Wilson and a sacrifice fly from Dustin Peterson that plated Wilson.
In the fourth, it all happened in a flash. The first four batters in the frame reached. Drew Ellis doubled, Esteban Quiroz singled, Scott Kingery walked, and Cal Stevenson singled to make it a 4-1 game and keep the bases loaded with nobody out. Then, Clemens laced a line-drive that cleared the wall in right field and stayed fair near the foul pole for a grand slam that surged the IronPigs out to an 8-1 lead.
From there, David Griffin finished his outing strong. The Syracuse starter ended up going six innings, retiring the final eight batters he faced. Griffin ended with four strikeouts and attacked the zone all evening, tossing 68 strikes among 97 total pitches thrown. The right-hander from Massachusetts has vacillated between Double-A and Triple-A all season long. 11 of Griffin's 19 appearances this season have come with the Syracuse Mets.
While Griffin ate up innings, the Mets offense finally woke from their slumber in the top of the seventh and got back in the ballgame. Syracuse entered the inning down 8-1, but it wouldn't stay that way. First, Tomas Nido singled to start the inning, and then Wyatt Young hit a two-run homer to make it an 8-3 game. After Mateo Gil grounded out sharply for the first out of the frame, Joe Suozzi singled, and Chase Estep doubled to put two runners on base for Jaylen Palmer. The 23-year-old did the rest, crushing a three-run home run to make it an 8-6 game just like that. Palmer, who is making his Triple-A debut this week, has now hit home runs in consecutive games.
In the bottom of the seventh, the IronPigs added an insurance run back to make it a 9-6 game. The tally came at the very last instant. The first two batters of the inning went down in order, and Peterson was down in the count with two strikes against him. However, Peterson laced a double down the left-field line to extend the inning. Then, Rafael Marchán singled Peterson home to push the advantage back out to three runs, 9-6.
In the bottom of the eighth, Lehigh Valley put it away by scoring five more runs to make it a 14-6 advantage. The inning was highlighted by a solo home run from Quiroz, an RBI double from Clemens, and a three-run home run from Darick Hall for the 14-6 edge.
It was a balanced attack for the IronPigs all evening long. By the end of the game, each of Lehigh Valley's nine batters reached base at least once and scored a run. Five different players scored at least two runs in the game.
Syracuse wraps up its six-game series at the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Sunday evening. The sixth game of the series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Sunday. Right-hander Justin Jarvis is scheduled to start for the Mets against right-hander Nick Nelson for the IronPigs.
Daniel Palka has hit two home runs this week.
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) September 2, 2023
Both have left the stadium. pic.twitter.com/y5SpTraH0y
Jaylen Palmer! Again!
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) September 3, 2023
That's homers in back-to-back games 👊 pic.twitter.com/fldcYDLs2C
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