Syracuse drops Easter Sunday matinee to Rochester, 7-2

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets dropped the game and the series on Sunday afternoon, losing to the Rochester Red Wings, 7-2. on a sunny Easter Sunday at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets lost the final two games in the three-game series after winning on Friday afternoon.

Mike Vasil, one of the top pitching prospects in the New York Mets minor-league system, made his first start of the 2024 regular season on Sunday afternoon. Rochester (2-1) greeted Vasil rudely, jumping on him with three runs exactly four batters into the ballgame. After Jacob Young grounded out to start the inning, James Wood and Juan Yepez singled to put two runners on base with one out. The next batter, Travis Blankenhorn, smacked a three-run homer over the right-field fence to make it a 3-0 lead for the Red Wings in a blink of an eye. Blankenhorn is a very familiar face to upstate New York baseball fans. He’s in his second season playing for Rochester after spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Syracuse Mets.

Syracuse (1-2) got a run right back in the bottom of the first when Luisangel Acuña singled with one out, moved to second on a Jiman Choi walk and scored on a sharp Mark Vientos single into centerfield. The RBI single continued a strong start to the season for Vientos. He also doubled, homered, and reached base three times in Saturday afternoon’s game.

Rochester chased Vasil from the game with two more runs in the top of the third. Blankenhorn singled leading off the inning, stealing his way to second and then staying put as Alex Call walked to put two runners on base with nobody out. A fielder’s choice groundout from Jake Alu put baserunners on first and third with one out, and then an unforced error from Vasil handed the Red Wings a run. Jack Dunn bunted a pitch right back to the mound that appeared like it could provide an inning-ending double play for the Mets, but Vasil threw errantly into center field on an attempted throw to second base. The poor throw skittered into the outfield, allowing Blankenhorn to prance all the way home and make it 4-1.

Vasil was pulled from the game, with the new reliever, Josh Walker, inducing a groundout from Brady Lindsly that produced the fifth run of the game for Rochester and the final run of a two-run third inning. Vasil’s final line was five runs allowed (all earned) on four hits in two and one-thirds innings pitched. The ultimate problem for Vasil on this chilly Easter Sunday was his command. He walked four batters and threw just 32 strikes among 66 total pitches thrown in his outing. Vasil walked at least four batters only once in 2023.

The Red Wings capped off their scoring on the afternoon with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Rochester managed to score twice without a ball leaving the infield in the inning, Three walks, a hit batter and an infield single plated the two runs. Darren Baker and James Wood scored the two runs in the sixth inning, capping off an impressive 24-hour span for the both of them. Baker reached base four times combined between Saturday and Sunday’s games, walking three times and stealing four bases. Wood reached base eight times, including five walks and three runs scored.

Along with the consistent offense, the story of the game for Rochester was their superb pitching staff. Jackson Rutledge got the game off to a brilliant start for the Red Wings, allowing just one run in five innings on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Rutledge retired 12 of the final 15 batters he faced in order. From there, Adonis Medina, Tim Cate, Luis Reyes, and Jacob Barnes combined to pitch the final four innings, allowing just one run on one hit with one walk and four strikeouts. The only hit and run for the Mets off the Rochester bullpen came when José Iglesias launched a solo home run over the left-field fence in the seventh inning. Iglesias is 4-for-7 in his first two games this season.

Syracuse now hits the road for its first series away from NBT Bank Stadium during the 2024 season, spending all of next week at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Game one of the six-game series is set for 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday. Right-hander Christian Scott is slated to start for Syracuse, opposed by left-hander Edgar Barclay for the RailRiders.