Syracuse Drops Series Finale in Buffalo on Sunny Mother’s Day Sunday
Buffalo, NY – The Syracuse Mets dropped the series finale at the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A affiliate, Toronto Blue Jays) on a sunny Sunday afternoon by a 9-3 final. The Mets lost five out of the six games in the weeklong series at Sahlen Field.
Buffalo, NY – The Syracuse Mets dropped the series finale at the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A affiliate, Toronto Blue Jays) on a sunny Sunday afternoon by a 9-3 final. The Mets lost five out of the six games in the weeklong series at Sahlen Field.
Early on, Syracuse (16-23) got off to an excellent start. With one out in the top of the first, Ronny Mauricio smacked his league-leading 16th double to put a runner in scoring position with one out. Mark Vientos then came to the plate and did damage, pounding a two-run homer over the left-field fence to stoke the Mets to a 2-0 lead right out of the gates. Vientos hit two home runs this past week in Buffalo and now has 12 total dingers on the season.
From there, the slow drip of runs began for Buffalo (18-21) as they eventually took the lead. The Bisons scored lone runs in the first, second and third innings. In the bottom of the first, Ernie Clement singled with one walk, moved to second on a balk and scored on an RBI single from Davis Schneider. In the second, L.J. Talley doubled with one out and later came home on a two-out RBI single from Tanner Morris. In the third, singles from Clement, Jordan Luplow and Wynton Bernard plated another run and gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead that they would never relinquish.
In the fourth, the Bisons scored three more times to take a 6-2 lead and essentially put the game away. A Jamie Ritchie single and a Morris double produced one run to start the inning, followed by a two-run home run later in the inning from Clement that pushed the lead to 6-2. Clement went a remarkable 5-for-5 in Sunday’s game, scoring three runs by the end of the afternoon. He also hit three home runs in the series – he entered the week with two home runs in the first 23 games of the season.
In the sixth, Syracuse slimmed the lead to 6-3. Jaylin Davis reached base on a one-out error, moving up to second on a Jonathan Araúz single. Another single from Tim Locastro loaded up the bases, bringing Nick Meyer to the plate. Meyer hit a chopper to third base that looked destined to be an inning-ending double play, however, Meyer wasn’t having it. The speedy catcher hustled down the line and legged out a fielder’s choice, allowing Davis to score and make it a 6-3 game.
From there, however, the Syracuse offense went silent the rest of the afternoon. Danny Mendick struck out to end the sixth, and the Mets would have just one baserunner in the final three innings of the game.
Buffalo completed its scoring bonanza with a run in the seventh and two more runs in the eighth. Schneider homered leading off the seventh, Morris homered with two outs in the eighth, and after a walk and a single, Schneider plated another run via an RBI double to make it a 9-3 game and finish the scoring on the afternoon. Schneider and Morris both finished the game with three hits. All but one Bisons batter in the game reached base at least once, four different players had at least two hits and Buffalo finished with 16 total hits as a team.
Syracuse now continues its two-week, 12-game long road trip with quite the test upcoming. The Mets head to the first-place Norfolk Tides all next week, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The first game of the six-game series is set for a 6:35 first pitch on Tuesday evening.