WooSox Fall in Regular Season Finale, Enter Final Stretch at 66-52

SYRACUSE N.Y. — The Syracuse Mets (47-69-1) used a pair of three-run innings to beat the Worcester Red Sox (66-52) in the regular season finale, a 9-4 victory on Sunday afternoon at NBT Bank Stadium.

With the loss, the WooSox fell in a series for the first time in nearly a calendar month, and the team closes the regular season with an 18-6 record over its final 24 games.

The Mets put together their first threat of the day in the second inning against Worcester starter Daniel Gossett. Travis Blankenhorn cracked a solo home run to start the three-run frame, and four batters later, Martin Cervenka tattooed a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall to put the home team up 3-0.

An inning later, Brandon Drury went deep on a fly ball that bounced off the glove of centerfielder Tate Matheny and hopped over the wall.

Trailing 4-0, the WooSox offense came back with two of its own in the top of the fourth inning. Jarren Duran began the rally with a double, followed by a Jonathan Araúz single. After a groundout, Franchy Cordero ripped an RBI double, Joey Meneses was next with a run-scoring single up the middle and Worcester cut the deficit to 4-2.

But another crooked number from Syracuse blew the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth. Gossett allowed a single, double and walk to load the bases before Brandon Drury lined a two-run single. That was the final batter the right-hander faced on the day, and after a wild pitch brought home Drury, Gossett’s line closed at four innings with seven runs and nine hits allowed.

A Josh Ockimey sac-fly in the sixth cut the Mets lead to 7-3 and gave the 25-year-old his 44th RBI over 91 Triple-A games this season.

Syracuse delivered its third multi-run inning in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI double by Blankenhorn and a bases-loaded walk to Cervenka. Worcester reliever Eduard Bazardo managed to get just two outs in the frame before Zack Kelly came out of the bullpen to get an inning-ending popout. Half an inning later, Jesús Reyes loaded the bases and then walked Jhonny Pereda to make it a 9-4 game.

The WooSox had three Major League rehabbers—all from the COVID-19 Injured List—at the top of their lineup: Duran (1-4 with a double), Araúz (1-3 with a single) and Christian Arroyo (1-5 with an infield single).

Despite the series defeat, Worcester closes the season series with a 14-9 record versus the Mets and a non-losing record against four of five teams in Triple-A Northeast. The team’s regular season road record through 118 games is 34-26.

The WooSox are off Monday and Tuesday before beginning the final series at Polar Park this season. Worcester faces the Rochester Red Wings on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. to begin the Triple-A Final Stretch. Television coverage is live on NESN+, while radio coverage starts live at 6:15 p.m. on 100 FM The Pike and the WooSox Radio Network.