Syracuse Game Recap: S-Mets rally falls short in 4-2 loss to IronPigs on Saturday night

Brett Baty had a double for Syracuse on Saturday night (Kylie Richelle).

Box Score

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets rallied late but still lost to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 4-2, on Saturday night in front of an electric crowd of 9,788 people at NBT Bank Stadium on Little League Night. Despite the loss, Syracuse still has an 8-3 record against Lehigh Valley this season.

Lehigh Valley (29-37) struck first with two outs in the top of the second inning. Cody Roberts singled, and Nick Podkul hit a home run over the left field wall for a 2-0 lead. Podkul was 0-for-7 this week before that hit.

 

The IronPigs extended their lead in the fourth. Aramis Garcia and Jim Haley hit back-to-back home runs to begin the frame to give Lehigh Valley a 4-0 advantage.

 

All of those home runs came against Syracuse starter Joey Lucchesi. This is the third time Lucchesi has allowed multiple home runs in his last four starts. Lucchesi still threw five and one-third innings but left the game down, 4-0.

 

Syracuse (41-26) mounted a late rally, beginning in the bottom of the seventh. Ben Gamel worked a leadoff walk, and Mike Brosseau singled, placing runners at first and third base. Rhylan Thomas followed with a groundout into a fielder's choice where Brosseau was out at second, but Thomas was safe at first, and Gamel scored to make it a 4-1 ballgame. Two batters later, with two outs, Yolmer Sánchez doubled to the right-field corner, scoring Thomas from first to trim the deficit to two, 4-2.

 

Lehigh Valley starter Tyler Phillips got the final out of the seventh and finished his outing with seven innings of two-run baseball while allowing only four hits, two runs, one walk, and Phillips struck out seven batters. This start was quite the turnaround for Phillips who allowed ten hits and nine runs against the Mets back in May.

 

Syracuse had a one-out double in the eighth inning which brought the tying run to the plate, but back-to-back strikeouts looking ended the Mets' scoring threat. Then, in the ninth, Syracuse got a two-out single to bring the tying run to the plate again, but a groundout ended the game. The Mets left a runner on base in each of the last five innings and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

 

Syracuse and Lehigh Valley conclude their six-game series on Sunday. Right-hander Blade Tidwell is slated to start on the mound for the Mets opposite IronPigs right-hander Michael Mercado. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.