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| Luke Ritter drive in his 78th run of 2024 in Game 1 of Saturday's Doubleheader (Kylie Richelle). |
By Michael Tricarico, Syracuse Mets Broadcaster
Columbus, OH – The Syracuse Mets' road trip struggles continued on Saturday night as they dropped both halves of a doubleheader at the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, the Columbus Clippers. The Mets lost the first game 7-1 and the second game by a 3-0 final score. The Mets have now dropped four out of the first five games this week at Columbus and nine of the first 11 games on their two-week road trip.
Syracuse jumped on Columbus in game one of the doubleheader via a very familiar storyline. Pablo Reyes singled with one out, moved to second on a Brett Baty groundout, and scored on another RBI hit from Luke Ritter. Ritter's two-out single was his 78th run driven in of the season and his ninth run driven in of the week at the time. It also marked the fourth straight game in which the Mets had scored first.
The Clippers were on the verge of tying the game or taking the lead in the bottom of the second, but Blade Tidwell escaped the jam and left the bases loaded to keep the Mets in front 1-0 going into the third inning.
In the bottom of the third, it all spiraled out of control for Syracuse as Columbus put the throttle down in the game. The Clippers sent ten men to the plate and scored seven runs, taking a 7-1 lead that proved to be plenty of insurance in a win in game one of the doubleheader. While the Clippers did have an RBI double from Estevan Florial and a two-run homer from Raynel Delgado in the monumental inning, it was also compounded by mistakes from the Mets. Syracuse's pitching staff walked three Columbus batters in the inning, and a costly error allowed another Clippers run to cross home plate.
Gifted plenty of run support, the pitching staff for the Columbus Clippers cruised from there in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. Alex Cobb, in his Guardians organization debut, allowed just one run in four and two-thirds innings pitched on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Cobb was acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline earlier in the week.
After that, Andrew Walters and Sam Hentges combined to toss the final two and one-thirds innings in scoreless fashion on just one hit to seal the win for the Clippers in game one of the doubleheader. Hentges, like Cobb, is rehabbing Big Leaguer. Both men are expected to play roles in the pennant chase for the Cleveland Guardians down the stretch run of the 2024 season.
In game two of the doubleheader, it was Columbus (53-52, 21-10) that got the scoring started with three-run flurry in the bottom of the third. A Dom Núñez double to start the inning was followed by a Christian Cairo bunt single to put runners on first and third with nobody out, and then Will Brennan smashed a single into center field to plate Núñez. A Juan Brito groundout followed by a Kyle Manzardo walk proceeded to load up the bases with one out, but a shallow flyout produced the second out without a run scoring from third base.
However, the momentum for Syracuse (62-44, 16-16) was short-lived, as Gabriel Arias smacked two-run, two-out single to plate two more runs and boost the Clippers lead up to 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
From there, the Triston McKenzie show took over at Huntington Park. The long-time Big Leaguer sure looked like it on Saturday night, racking up 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings. McKenzie had at least two strikeouts in four of those six strikeouts, pairing his wicked curveball with a mid-90s fastball to befuddle the Mets batters. Syracuse did get four hits off McKenzie and induce three walks, but they left five runners on base and could never quite get a run off the talented right-handed starter for the Clippers.
In the top of the seventh, Tanner Burns came out of the bullpen looking to close out the game for the Clippers. The Mets did not make it easy. With one out, Yolmer Sánchez walked and JT Schwartz doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Burns struck out Austin Allen for the second out and then Columbus elected to go get one more reliever out of the bullpen. Peter Strzelecki was summoned to face Pablo Reyes and got the job done, inducing a game-ending flyout that clinched the 3-0 win for the Clippers. The Mets ended up leaving five runners in scoring position in the loss in game two of the doubleheader.
The Syracuse Mets wrap up their two-week road trip on Sunday afternoon at the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, the Columbus Clippers. The series finale is scheduled for a 1:05 p.m. first pitch. Right-hander Mike Vasil is expected to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Will Dion for the Clippers.
We have no earthly idea why Columbus is pitching to Luke Ritter.
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) August 3, 2024
His NINTH run driven in this week! pic.twitter.com/Rtv2LnX7Eh
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