Brosseau’s three homers power Syracuse to series-opening 8-7 win over Iowa

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets welcomed the Iowa Cubs to NBT Bank Stadium for the first time ever on Tuesday night and the Mets toasted the occasion in fine fashion. Mike Brosseau’s remarkable three-homer game spurred Syracuse to an 8-7 win on an occasionally rainy evening in the Salt City. The game was delayed initially by 40 minutes due to rain showers in the area.

After the first three and a half innings of the game went scoreless, the Syracuse (23-15) offense got to work in the bottom of the fourth. The Mets roared in front with a six-run flurry, highlighted by solo home runs from Trayce Thompson and Mike Brosseau among the first three batters of the inning to quickly make it a 2-0 game. However, Syracuse wasn’t done scoring in the bottom of the fourth. After Jiman Choi grounded out for the second out of the inning, Joe Hudson was hit by a pitch, Luisangel Acuña singled, and Ben Gamel walked to load the bases back up with two outs. Rylan Bannon then plated Hudson and Acuña on a two-out, two-strike, two-run single, followed by a Luke Ritter two-run double to score Gamel and Bannon and make it 6-0.

The Mets have made a habit of piling on the runs in innings recently. Two weeks ago, in a road series at Rochester, Syracuse had a seven-run frame and an eight-run inning. Last week on Tuesday at Lehigh Valley, the Mets scored a remarkable 14 runs in the top of the seventh inning, a record for runs scored in an inning by the Syracuse Mets. Then, on this Tuesday night, Syracuse’s big six-run flurry in the fourth spurred them to a sizable early advantage.

In the top of the fifth, Iowa (19-21) responded with four runs to slim the deficit down to 6-4. With the bases loaded and one out, Alexander Canario lifted drive over the left-field fence for a grand slam that made it a competitive ballgame again the blink of an eye.

From there, it became the Mike Brosseau show. The former Oakland Golden Grizzly smacked two more home runs, a pair of solo shots in the fifth and seventh innings respectively to push the lead for the Mets back out to 8-4. The three-homer game from Brosseau was the 17th game all-time in which a Syracuse baseball player has hit at least three home runs. Brosseau now has 12 hits in his last 23 at-bats.

It remained an 8-4 game until the top of the ninth inning when the game nearly got away from the Mets. A solo shot from Brennen Davis leading off the inning made it 8-5, and a one-out double from Darius Hill prompted Josh Walker to come out of the bullpen to try and seal the deal. The closer for Syracuse struck out Owen Caissie for the second out of the inning and then induced a weak groundball back to the mound from Matt Mervis that looked destined to end the game. However, Walker threw poorly to first, a toss that sailed all the way into right field, scoring Hill from second and extending the game.

Canario came back to the plate and provided another RBI hit, this one a single that scored Mervis from second (he had advanced to second on the throwing error) and moved Canario to second on the throw home. That was immediately followed by a Curt Casali infield single that put runners on first and third with two outs in an 8-7 game, allowing David Bote to come to the plate with the chance to be a hero. The veteran smacked a sharp groundball that ricocheted off Walker’s cleat to shortstop where Acuña fielded the ball clean and threw to first in time to end the game with the Mets on top 8-7. The top of the ninth featured eight I-Cubs batters, a home run, four hits, one pivotal error, and two runners left on base, including the potential tying run ninety feet away at third base.

Syracuse is finally home after two long weeks on the road. This week’s series against the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, the Iowa Cubs, continues on Wednesday at 11:05 a.m. from NBT Bank Stadium. Right-hander Mike Vasil is expected to start on the mound for the Mets.