Brandon Sproat continues to shine as Mets split Saturday doubleheader against Tides

Norfolk, VA - The Syracuse Mets split a quasi-doubleheader against the Norfolk Tides on Saturday night at Harbor Park. Syracuse won Friday night's suspended game that was completed on Saturday, 16-7, but the Mets lost Saturday's originally scheduled game afterwards, 6-4.

Friday's suspended game resumed on Saturday in the bottom of the seventh inning with Syracuse leading, 7-6. After Mets reliever José Castillo pitched a scoreless inning, Syracuse added to its lead in the top of the eighth. Francisco Alvarez led off the inning with a 400-foot home run over the left-field wall for an 8-6 Syracuse advantage.

The Mets then left no doubt in the ninth. Syracuse exploded for eight runs on five hits in the frame. Luke Ritter had an RBI double, Yonny Hernandez brought home a run with a hit, Alvarez worked a bases-loaded walk, Pablo Reyes hit a sacrifice fly, and Omar De Los Santos put the exclamation point on the inning with a grand slam that gave the Mets a 16-6 lead. The homer was De Los Santos's first-career Triple-A home run.

Norfolk scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 16-7, but that is as close as the Tides got as the Mets won Friday's suspended game, 16-7, on Saturday night.

Saturday's originally scheduled game then started, and the Tides scored first in the bottom of the second inning. Jeremiah Jackson reached on an error, stole second base, moved to third base on a throwing error during the steal, and Jackson scored on a Heston Kjerstad groundout for a 1-0 Norfolk lead.

That was the only run that Syracuse starting pitcher Brandon Sproat allowed. The 24-year-old struck out a Triple-A career-high nine batters in five innings pitched with just one hit, one walk, and that one unearned run allowed. Sproat has not allowed an earned run in his last 23 innings pitched across his last four starts.

Syracuse responded in the top of the third. With one out, Matt O'Neill doubled to the center-field wall and scored on a José Azocar single, tying the game up, 1-1.

The Mets took the lead in the sixth. Alvarez led off with a walk, and Reyes singled, a wild pitched moved the runners to second and third. After Joey Meneses popped out, Ritter broke the tie with a single into left field, scoring Alvarez for a 2-1 Mets edge. Hernandez followed with a singled that brought in Reyes for a 3-1 advantage. Then, with Ritter at third base, another wild pitch scored Ritter to make it a 4-1 ballgame.

Norfolk proceeded to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings but did not score. Then, the Tides brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth and finally broke through. Dylan Beavers doubled, and Dylan Carlson walked to put two runners on base. After Vimael Machin popped out, Jackson tied the game with a three-run homer over the left-field wall, knotting the game, 4-4.

After Syracuse didn't score in the top of the ninth, Norfolk won the game in the bottom of the ninth. Beavers led off with a walk, and Carlson ended the game with a walk-off home run over the right-field wall for a 6-4 Tides win.

Syracuse and Norfolk conclude their three-game series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.