Mets bullpen shines in 5-4 Syracuse win over Worcester on Friday night

*Worcester, MA – *The Syracuse Mets came from behind and held on for a 5-4 win over the Worcester Red Sox on Friday evening at Polar Park. The Mets have won three games in a row and are 6-1 over their last seven games.

Syracuse (62-83) jumped on top two batters into the game for the second straight night. Jake Mangum led off with a single on the first pitch of the game. Dominic Smith followed with a two-run home run that he launched over the right-field wall to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Smith has now hit five home runs over his last 11 games.

Worcester (72-72) responded in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Nick Sogard walked. After an Enmanuel Valdez fly out to center field, Ronaldo Hernandez lined a homer over the left-field wall to tie the game, 2-2.

The Mets regained the lead in the second. Carlos Rincon began the frame with a double, and Khalil Lee walked. A Deven Marrero sacrifice bunt moved Rincon to third base and Lee to second. Michael Pérez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then, Mangum grounded into a fielder’s choice that brought Rincon home from third to give Syracuse a 3-2 edge.

The Red Sox tied the game again, this time in the fourth. Johan Mieses led off with a walk and stole second base as Ryan Fitzgerald struck out. Pedro Castellanos then grounded out, but Mieses moved to third base on the play. Jaylin Davis followed with a two-out single that scored Mieses, knotting the game up, 3-3.

Worcester took its first lead of the night in the fifth. With one out, Jarren Duran singled. Then, with Sogard batting, Duran stole second. Sogard grounded out back to the mound, but Duran advanced to third on the play. With Valdez batting, Duran took a few hard steps towards home plate after a pitch, prompting a bad throw passed third base from Syracuse catcher Michael Pérez, allowing Duran to score on a stolen base, giving the Red Sox a 4-3 advantage.

Syracuse came right back in the sixth. Rincon led off with a walk. After Lee flied out to center field, Marrero walked, putting runners at first and second base. Pérez followed with a single, scoring Rincon and moving Marrero to third as the Mets tied the game up, 4-4. Mangum then hit a sacrifice fly to center field that brought Marrero home to give Syracuse a 5-4 lead.

From there, the Mets bullpen starred. Bryce Montes de Oca, Alex Claudio, Trey Cobb, and Adonis Medina combined to pitch the game’s final four and two-thirds innings in scoreless fashion with nine strikeouts. The final innings didn’t come without Worcester scoring chances, but the Red Sox left seven runners on base in the game’s final five innings as Syracuse’s relievers picked up every out they needed to secure the win. The Mets bullpen has not allowed an earned run in 15 and one-third innings pitched this series and has allowed only six earned runs in 32 innings over the team’s last seven games for a 1.69 ERA.

Syracuse continues its six-game series against Worcester with the fifth game of the series on Saturday. First pitch is slated for 4:05 p.m.