Syracuse outlasts Rochester for 5-3, ten-inning win on Sunday afternoon
Rochester, NY – The Syracuse Mets enacted a little revenge at the end of a perplexing week in Rochester, taking down the Red Wings by a 5-3 final in ten innings on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. The Mets had lost twice in extra innings earlier in the series. After dropping
Rochester, NY – The Syracuse Mets enacted a little revenge at the end of a perplexing week in Rochester, taking down the Red Wings by a 5-3 final in ten innings on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. The Mets had lost twice in extra innings earlier in the series. After dropping the first four games in the six-game series, Syracuse rebounded to win the final two games on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon respectively.
Syracuse (22-35) got off to an excellent start offensively, scoring a run in the first, second, and third innings. In the top of the first, Ronny Mauricio lined a solo shot over the right-field wall to get the Mets on the board. It had been a while since Mauricio had hit a home run – he last hit one on May 13th at Buffalo, a 17-game span.
In the second, the Mets scored again when Carlos Cortes doubled with one out and came around to score on a two-out single from Danny Mendick. It’s been a return home this week for Mendick, who grew up in nearby Pittsford. In fact, Mendick’s family grew up as Rochester Red Wings season ticket holders.
In the third, Syracuse completed its initial three-run flurry when DJ Stewart launched a solo home run over the right-field fence. It was the tenth homer of the season for Stewart and only part of what would turn out to be a great day at the plate. By the end of the ballgame, the former Florida State Seminole went 3-for-4 at the plate with two singles, a home run, a run scored, and two runs driven in.
On the other side, Rochester (26-29) scored lone runs in first, third and fifth innings to ensure it would be a tie game at three entering the sixth inning and the later innings of the ballgame. Derek Hill homered leading off the bottom of the first, continuing what would prove to be quite the 24-hour span. Combined between Saturday night’s game and Sunday afternoon’s game, the former first-round pick went a combined 5-for-8 with a double, a triple, a home run, two walks, two runs scored, and four runs driven in.
In the bottom of the third, the Red Wings plated a run when Cody Wilson walked, moved to second on a Hill bunt single, and scored on a Jake Alu RBI single. In the fifth, Alu did it again, driving in Hill on an RBI double after Hill had walked with two outs to extend the inning.
The game would remain tied into extra innings as both bullpens held the line into the tenth inning. Syracuse received a solid start from David Peterson, as the left-hander tossed six and two-thirds innings of three-run ball while allowing six hits, walking three, and striking out four. From there, the Mets utilized three relievers (Hunter Parsons, Zach Muckenhirn, and Grant Hartwig) in the next two and one-third innings to get the game to extra innings. On the other side, Rochester used two relievers (Gerson Moreno and Jordan Weems) to get the game to extras after José Ureña allowed three runs in his six-inning start. Ureña certainly bounced back from a rough start on Monday afternoon. The former Miami Marlin didn’t make it out of the first inning back on Monday, allowing five earned runs while recording just two total outs.
In the top of the tenth, Syracuse put the game away in unconventional fashion. The Mets scored twice to take a 5-3 game without recording a single hit in the inning. Nick Meyer began the frame as the free runners at second base, moving to third when Danny Mendick reached on an error. Then, with Luis Guillorme at the plate, a wild pitch in a two-strike count allowed Meyer to prance home, Mendick to move to second, and the score to advance in Syracuse’s favor at 4-3. Guillorme’s follow-up groundout got Mendick to third, and after a Tyler White walk, Stewart lofted a fly deep enough into center field for a sacrifice fly out to score Mendick and wrap up the afternoon’s scoring, 5-3.
Dennis Santana sealed the deal in the bottom of the tenth, working a scoreless half-inning to earn the save and the second win of the week for the Mets. Syracuse and Rochester have now played 12 times this season with the Mets capturing seven of the contests. Syracuse took five out of the six games in a series played at NBT Bank Stadium in early April.
Syracuse now returns home after a long week on the road to host the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Triple-A Philadelphia Phillies) next week at NBT Bank Stadium. Game one of the six-game series is set for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday evening.