Plummer, Vientos launch Syracuse to 8-7 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday afternoon

Moosic, PA –Nick Plummer had a home run, two doubles, and five RBIs while Mark Vientos hit two homers as the Syracuse Mets beat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, 8-7, on Wednesday morning turned afternoon at PNC Field. The Mets came back from a 4-1 deficit and held off a late RailRiders rally to secure the win.

Syracuse (11-20) struck first in the top of the second inning. Vientos led off the frame with an opposite-field home run to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Then, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (11-20) went on the attack in the bottom of the third, plating four runs on four hits, a walk, and two costly errors. The RailRiders received RBI hits in the frame from Oswald Peraza, Jose Peraza, and Rob Brantly. Two of the four runs that scored were unearned.

On this day, the Mets wouldn’t take an inning like that lying down. Syracuse roared right back, plating four runs of their own in the top of the fourth inning to grab the lead right back at 5-4. The scoring flurry all began with another Vientos big fly, this home run pulled over the wall in left-center field. The consensus top-five prospect in the New York Mets minor league system now has four home runs on the season. After a Gosuke Katoh strikeout, Travis Blankenhorn walked, Nick Dini singled, and Cody Bohanek walked to load up the bases with one out. A Quinn Brodey strikeout put further scoring in the frame in danger, but Plummer wouldn’t let it happen. The 25-year-old pounded a bases-clearing double to center field, scoring all three runners on the base paths and putting Syracuse right back in front, 5-4.

The Mets tacked on solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings to add to their advantage. In the fifth, Vientos singled leading off the inning, moved up to second on a Katoh walk, and scored on a fielding error at second base to make it a 6-4 ballgame. In the sixth, Plummer pummeled a solo shot over the fence in right-center field, his fifth homer of the season, giving the Mets a 7-4 advantage.

The RailRiders wouldn’t go quietly, however. A two-run blast from Peraza in the bottom of the seventh inning sliced the Syracuse lead to just one, 7-6. Peraza, a highly-touted prospect in the Yankees minor league system, now has three home runs this season.

Each team traded another pair of runs in the eighth inning. First, Brodey and Plummer combined on a pair of doubles leading off the frame to make it 8-6 with Syracuse in front. Plummer had a banner day at the plate, finishing 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, and five RBIs. An Armando Alvarez sacrifice fly from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with one out in the bottom half of the eighth scored Evan Alexander and made it just a one-run game again, 8-7.

The ninth inning was drama-free, as Colin Holderman locked down the victory with a 1-2-3 relief inning. The right-hander earned a six-out save, as he also pitched the eighth inning. The save is Holderman’s third of the season. Jose Rodriguez earned the win for Syracuse, pitching brilliantly out of the bullpen. The right-hander “piggybacked” the start of Rob Zastryzny, tossing three scoreless innings with just two hits and no walks coupled with three strikeouts.

Syracuse continues its six-game series at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders with a Thursday night matchup at 6:35 p.m.