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Game Recap: Syracuse sweeps rainy doubleheader on Sunday to win series against Columbus


José Iglesias's home run swing that gave Syracuse a 5-3 lead in game one of Sunday's doubleheader (Herm Card).


Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets battled both the Columbus Clippers and the rain drops on Sunday afternoon, coming out victorious against both. The Mets won both halves of the doubleheader, ensuring that they would win the weeklong series against the Clippers. The Mets won game one, 5-4, and took game two, 8-6. With the wins, Syracuse took four of the six games in the series.

 

Christian Scott was once again the headliner for Syracuse, starting game one of Sunday's doubleheader. His beginning to his outing continued a curious trend as Scott allowed a solo home run to Kyle Manzardo, the third straight game in which the right-handed pitcher has given up a homer in the first inning and the seventh home run he has given up all season. Yet, as has become tradition, Scott bounced back in dominating fashion. The former Florida Gator ended up working four and one-third innings, allowing just the one hit and one run with two walks and two strikeouts. The final 14 batters that Scott faced did not get a hit.

 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Mets got a run back in a flash to tie the game. It took two batters in the fourth to knot the game up at one. Luisangel Acuña led off the frame with a groundball double down the left-field line, and then scored when the next batter, Ben Gamel, looped a soft single into shallow center field to score Acuña easily and tie the game, 1-1.

 

The first game of the doubleheader was marred by rain throughout, and it turned into a steady rain throughout the sixth inning. That's when the game hit warp speed. First, Columbus scored twice in the top half of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. With two runners on base and one out, Johnathan Rodriguez hit a slow dribbler down the third-base line. Rylan Bannon, the Mets' third baseman, fielded the ball and threw all in one motion attempting to get Rodriguez at first base. However, the errant throw sailed up the line and into right field, allowing both runners to score and hand the Clippers a 3-1 lead.

 

That lead would not last as the Mets scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good. First, with Gamel back on the basepaths (he had tripled with one out in the inning), Bannon atoned for his mistake and launched a game-tying, two-run homer beyond the fence in right-center field to knot up the game, 3-3. Then, after a Luke Ritter two-out single extended the inning, José Iglesias pounded a two-run shot over the right-field fence to make it a 5-3 game in the blink of an eye. It was the second homer of the week for Iglesias, who also homered in the series opener on Tuesday.

 

The game wasn't over yet – Bryan Lavastida homered on the first pitch of the top of the seventh to make it a 5-4 lead. However, Cole Sulser buckled down from there. Sulser retired the next three Clippers batters in order to earn his first save of the season.

 

Game two of the doubleheader was headlined by Max Kranick's debut with Syracuse (14-11), but it did not start well. Columbus (10-16) got to him with three runs via two home runs. On the second pitch of the game, the Clippers' leadoff hitter, Daniel Schneemann, hit a solo shot to make it a 1-0 game. Four batters later, Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-run, two-strike, two-out homer to turn it a 3-0 game. Noel also hit a two-run homer in Friday night's game.

 

It remained a 3-0 game until the bottom of the third inning when the Syracuse offense work up. After two scoreless innings to start the game at the plate, the Mets roared in front via one big blow in the bottom of the third. The bases were loaded with two outs as Carlos Cortes came to the plate, and he promptly unloaded them, taking a mighty swing and connecting with a drive that sailed over the right-field fence and onto the Salt City Deck for a go-ahead grand slam that put the Mets in front 4-3. Cortes was making his season debut on Sunday afternoon after spending the first 22 games of the season on the Development List.

 

In the top of the fourth, the Clippers tied it back up at four. José Tena singled starting the inning, moved to second on a Lorenzo Cedrola bunt single, and scored on a Dom Nuñez single into left field.

 

From there, the Mets surged back in front via an old friend: the long ball. With a runner on second base and nobody out in the bottom of the fourth, Acuña launched a two-run homer off the batter's eye beyond the centerfield to make it a 6-4 Mets advantage. The big fly traveled an estimated 416 feet and was Acuña's first home run since the second at-bat of the season.

 

Syracuse wasn't down there, scoring again in the fourth when Ben Gamel doubled and Trayce Thompson singled to make it 7-4. Then in the fifth, the Mets scored again. A Taylor Kohlwey double with two outs kept the inning alive, and after Joe Hudson reached on an error to further extend the frame, Acuña did damage again. The 22-year-old slapped a single into left field that plated Kohlwey and made it an 8-4 game. In the last three games of this week's series, Acuña went a combined 4-for-11 at the plate with a double, a triple, a home run, three runs scored, and three runs driven in.

 

Syracuse would end up winning the second half of the doubleheader, but it would not come easy. The Clippers scored twice in the top of the sixth to make it 8-6 via a two-run Schneemann single and continued to battle in the top of the seventh, the last scheduled inning as part of a doubleheader in Minor League Baseball. The leadoff batter, Johnathan Rodriguez, reached on an error to start the frame and bring the potential tying run to the plate. However, Eric Orze bore down from there, retiring the next three batters in order to earn his first save of the season and earn the Mets a doubleheader sweep at NBT Bank Stadium.

 

Syracuse now hits the road for two long weeks away from NBT Bank Stadium. The two-week journey begins at Rochester on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m.




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