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Luisangel Acuña had two hits in Saturday night's comeback win for Syracuse, including the last hit of the game in the bottom of the ninth (Herm Card - herm4444@gmail.com). |
Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets never said die on Saturday night – they rallied back from five runs down entering the seventh inning to triumph over the Iowa Cubs (Triple-A affiliate, Chicago Cubs) by an 8-7 final at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have won four of their first five games against the Cubs this week, nine of their last 11 games overall and sit just two games back of first place.
The headliner for Syracuse (26-16) entering the evening was Troy Miller, who was making his first-ever Triple-A start. However, Iowa (20-24) spoiled the fun, tagging Miller for seven runs (all earned) on seven hits in his two and one-thirds innings of work. The Cubs slugged three home runs off of Miller, two of which came off the bat of Brennen Davis. The former Futures Game MVP has had quite the run as of late – he's homered in four games this week and five of his last six games overall.
The Mets scored twice in the bottom of the first on RBI singles from Rylan Bannon and José Iglesias, but they wouldn't score again until the bottom of the seventh. It was on the bullpen to keep them in the game, and that's exactly what they did. Three pitchers (Jon Duplantier, Max Kranick and Cole Sulser) tossed the final six and two-thirds of the game in scoreless fashion, allowing five hits while walking three and striking out four. The best part of the bullpen's work was avoiding the catastrophic inning. The Cubs left seven runners on base in the final five innings, and they failed to score even once.
That set the stage for late Syracuse magic in what has been a stretch filled with pixie dust recently. In the bottom of the seventh, the Mets crawled closer on a two-run, two-out homer from Joe Hudson. The catcher began the season playing for the I-Cubs. In the eighth, the script flipped quickly yet again. With one out, Rylan Bannon smacked a solo shot to make it a 7-5 game. Then, after a Luke Ritter double, Trayce Thompson stepped to the plate and into the spotlight again. He tied the game with a laser beam of home run over the left-field fence, his fourth home run in the last two games combined. Thompson now leads Syracuse with 12 home runs this season.
In the bottom of the ninth, the comeback became complete. Jiman Choi reached to start the inning on a walk, promptly being lifted for a pinch-running Yolmer Sánchez. A groundout sent Sánchez to second and brought Luisangel Acuña to the plate. He slapped a single into right field that appeared to be hit too sharply to score Sánchez. However, the throw to home plate skittered among the Cubs catcher, allowing Sánchez to walk home and give the Mets an 8-7, walk-off win. Saturday night's one-run win is now the third win by one win already this week for Syracuse.
Syracuse wraps ups this week's series against the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, the Iowa Cubs, on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:05 pm. from NBT Bank Stadium.
Sorry, @IowaCubs, Joe Hudson plays for us now 😉 pic.twitter.com/xWeJMwjYwX
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 19, 2024
TRAYCE THOMPSON ARE YOU FROM THIS PLANET pic.twitter.com/kKcRNJFmdh
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 19, 2024
SATURDAY NIGHT MAGIC IN SYRACUSE
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 19, 2024
9️⃣ wins in the last 11 games ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ pic.twitter.com/lQwnzKGKep
the dugout POV…. 👏👏👏 https://t.co/Uu9aBK1pjx pic.twitter.com/yL5C8A6ccR
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 19, 2024
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