Three homers blast Mets to 5-3 victory over Bulls

Syracuse, NY - The Syracuse Mets used the long ball to top the Durham Bulls, 5-3, on Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium. Dilson Herrera knocked two homers and Danny Espinosa hit one as well in the Mets second straight victory over the Bulls. 

Durham (68-54) opened the scoring in the top of the third inning on a leadoff home run by Emilio Bonifácio to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead.
Syracuse (61-61) responded in the bottom of the fourth. Herrera led off with a home run to tie the ballgame, 1-1. Réne Rivera followed with a walk before Espinosa crushed a home run over the left-field wall, giving Syracuse a 3-1 advantage. 
The Mets kept things going in the bottom of the fifth inning. Rymer Liriano led off with a double. Three batters later, with two outs, Herrera blasted a two-run homer, extending the Syracuse advantage to 5-1. 
Durham countered in the sixth inning. Kean Wong led off with a walk, and Nate Lowe singled to put two runners on. With no outs, Jason Coats singled up the middle to plate Wong from second base and cut the deficit to three, 5-2. One out later, Michael Perez walked to load the bases. Bonifacio then drove in Lowe from third on a groundout to first, making it 5-3 Syracuse. 
The Bulls threatened in the top of the ninth inning. Dalton Kelly and Kevin Padlo walked to start the inning for Durham. Wong flew out, and Lowe reached base on an error to load the bases with one out. Mets reliever Tyler Bashlor buckled down from there. The right-hander forced back-to-back groundouts to third base to pick up the save and secure the 5-3 victory. 
The Mets remain home on Friday night for the first game of a three-game series against the Norfolk Tides. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.