Syracuse loses sixth straight with 11-2 defeat to Worcester on Saturday night

*Syracuse, NY *- Worcester used a big night from their offense and an impressive outing from pitcher Kyle Hart to beat Syracuse, 11-2, and hand the Mets their sixth straight loss on Saturday night at NBT Bank Stadium.

Worcester (22-13) wasted no time in getting on the board. Jarren Duran hit a leadoff home run off Mets starter Jerad Eickhoff to put the Red Sox up, 1-0, in the top of the first inning.

In the third, Woo Sox first baseman Michael Chavis continued a power surge. After Marcus Wilson and Franchy Cordero walked, Chavis launched a three-run homer to give Worcester a 3-0 advantage. The homer was Chavis’ third home run hit in this series.

The Red Sox continued to score in the fourth. Jonathan Araúz led off the frame with a walk. Next, Chris Herrmann ripped a double into right field and Araúz advanced to third. Jack López followed and hit a single to center to score Araúz to make the score 5-0 Woo Sox as Hermann advanced to third on the play. Later, a wild pitch by Eickhoff got Hermann home, and Worcester increased their lead to 6-0.

Eickhoff’s day would end after a scoreless fifth inning. The 30-year-old threw five innings, giving up six runs on six hits, while walking four and striking out five.

Worcester added more runs in the sixth as Syracuse let two unearned runs score because of two errors, giving the Red Sox an 8-0 advantage.

In the seventh, right-handed pitcher Josh Hejka made his Triple-A debut. He put together a 1-2-3 inning, forcing two groundouts and a flyout.

Syracuse (11-24) finally got a run across in the bottom half of the seventh. Drew Jackson led off with a ground-rule double to left field. Wilfredo Tovar followed with a singled to put runners at first and third base. César Puello then grounded into a double play, but Jackson scored from third to get the Mets on the board but still trailing, 8-1.

Worcester added more runs in the top of the eighth. With runners on first and third and no outs, Wilson provided an RBI with a fielder's choice to score Lopez and extend the lead to 9-1. Cordero followed, and blasted a two-run homer off Hejka to right field to make it 11-1 Red Sox.

The Mets got one more run in the game in the bottom of the eighth. With one out and nobody on, Khalil Lee blasted his first run of the season over the left-center-field wall to give the game its final score of 11-2.

That would be the final inning pitched by Hart. The Red Sox left-hander pitched seven innings after right-hander John Schreiber opened the game on the mound and pitched a scoreless first inning. Hart allowed five hits and two walks but only two runs while striking out four batters. The 28-year-old threw a career-high 109 pitches.

Syracuse looks to avoid the sweep against Worcester on Sunday afternoon. First pitch of the series finale is at 1:05 p.m. from NBT Bank Stadium.