Syracuse heartbroken again in another ninth-inning defeat, 8-6, at Buffalo

Buffalo, NY – The Syracuse Mets had the nightmare happen again on Friday night as the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A Toronto Blue Jays) scored four times in the ninth to rally back and win by an 8-6 final on a sunny Friday night at Sahlen Field. The Mets have lost three out of the first four games in the six-game series. They have held multiple-run leads in the eighth inning or later in each of those three losses.

Early on, it looked like Buffalo (16-21) may run away with the ballgame. The Bisons scored three times in the first to race out to an early lead. A double from Rafael Lantigua leading off the bottom of the first promptly put a runner right in scoring position, and Lantigua then sprinted home on a one-out single from Spencer Horwitz to make it a 1-0 game. The next batter, Jordan Luplow, hit a home run over the left-field fence to increase the home team’s lead to 3-0.

In the top of the second, it took two Buffalo batters to score another run. Tyler Heineman led off the inning with a double and then scored when the next batter, Tanner Morris, hit a single into center field. The Bisons finished the first two innings of the game with four runs on six runs among 12 total batters in the two innings.

After Buffalo’s big start, Syracuse (16-21) settled in and battled back to tie the game up at four. In the third, the Mets manufactured a pair of runs to slice the deficit in half. Lorenzo Cedrola singled leading off the inning, advancing to second on a one-out walk from Nick Meyer. That was followed by Danny Mendick getting hit by a pitch to load up the bases and bring Ronny Mauricio to the plate in an advantageous spot. Mauricio stayed within himself, laying off a slew of breaking balls to draw a bases-loaded walk and bring in a run to trim the deficit to three, 4-1. The next batter, Mark Vientos, hit a drive deep enough into center field to score Meyer on a sacrifice fly out and make it a 4-2 game.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Mets scored twice again to tie it up at four. Leading off the inning, Jaylin Davis lined a deep drive over the left-field wall to make it a 4-3 game in a flash. After the next two batters recorded outs, Syracuse scrapped across another run with two outs to tie the game. First, Meyer legged out an infield single to reach base, promptly sprinting to second base on a wild pitch with Mendick back at the dish. Mendick would ground a single into left field, moving Meyer up 90 feet to third base. Then, with Mauricio back at the plate, another wild pitch allowed Meyer to prance home and knot the game up, 4-4.

While the Mets were battling back in the ballgame, Denyi Reyes was battling back in his start. The right-hander finished strong after the slow beginning, retiring the final nine batters he faced to keep Syracuse in the game. Reyes finished his outing allowing four runs on six hits with three strikeouts.

The game remained tied up into the top of the ninth inning where the Mets finally went in front with one more flurry of runs. First, they loaded up the bases via walks to Meyer and Vientos plus an infield single for Ronny Mauricio. With two outs and the bases still loaded, Gary Sánchez strode to the plate with a chance to flip the script. Sánchez did just that, pounding a double off the very top of the left-field wall to plate Meyer and Mauricio and make it a 6-4 game. Sánchez has certainly been a welcome face in the Syracuse Mets lineup. Since joining the team on Wednesday, he’s gone 5-for-11 at the plate with a double, a home run, three walks, and four runs driven in.

Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Mets were once again clinging to a late lead and hoping to shut the door for a win. However, the theme of the week has been that the Buffalo Bisons will never say die, and it happened again on Friday night. Buffalo scored four final times in the ninth to rally back and win. It all started with a Cameron Eden single, followed by a one-out walk from Davis Schneider that put two runners on base with one out. Then, Horwitz came to the plate and looped a single into shallow left field. Eden ran through a stop sign at third base and looked dead to rights on the basepaths, but Syracuse threw poorly back into the infield. The error allowed Eden to score, Schneider to take second, and Horwitz to stop at first in a 6-5 game with one out. The next batter, Luplow, ended that game, crushing a fastball over the left-field wall for a game-ending three-run home run. Luplow finished the night with two home runs and five runs driven in.

Syracuse is on the road all week at the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Buffalo Bisons. Game five of the six-game series is set for a 1:05 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. Right-hander Humberto Mejia is scheduled to start for the Mets.