BUFFALO, NY—The Buffalo Bisons defeated the Syracuse Mets 8-6 on Friday in thrilling walk-off fashion at Sahlen Field.
The Herd got the offense rolling early, with Spencer Horwitz collecting his 20th RBI on a single that scored Rafael Lantigua to give the Herd a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Buffalo continued to add to the lead when Jordan Luplow hit a two-run blast to open up a 3-0 Buffalo lead. The home run was Luplow’s second of the season and his first as a member of the Bisons.
After two innings of work by Thomas Hatch that saw him throw only 19 pitches, Buffalo would once again extend their lead with a Tanner Morris RBI single that brought Tyler Heineman home, 4-0.
Syracuse would slowly cut into the lead, with the first strike back coming from Ronny Mauricio. Mauricio’s bases loaded walk would put the Mets on the board, 4-1. With the bases still loaded, Mark Vientos stepped to the plate and delivered a sacrifice fly that would bring Nick Meyer home, cutting the Buffalo lead to 4-2.
A fourth inning Jaylin Davis leadoff home run brought Syracuse to within 4-3, before a Mitch White wild pitch scored Nick Meyer to tie the game, 4-4.
The Buffalo bullpen would keep Syracuse quiet, allowing no runs over the next five innings to keep things tied at four heading to the final frame.
Syracuse would load the bases in the top of the ninth, setting the scene for Gary Sanchez to hit a two-RBI double that scored Myer and Mauricio to give the Mets their first lead of the night at 6-4.
Buffalo’s ninth inning rally would prove to be successful for the second night in a row, after a leadoff single by Cameron Eden brought the tying run to the plate. A one-out Davis Schneider walk put runners on first and second for Buffalo, before Horwitz would put the Herd within one with an RBI single, 6-5.
Luplow once again stepped to the plate, this time with runners on first and second before blasting his second home run of the game high over the left field wall to give Buffalo the 8-6 win. With the walk-off on Friday, Luplow now has two of Buffalo’s four walk-off hits this season with both coming in this week’s series against the Mets.
The walk-off win is the second in as many nights for Buffalo, and the third walk-off win of the series. In addition to Buffalo’s 10-9 walk-off win on Tuesday via a Luplow RBI single, the Herd knocked off the Mets 6-5 on Thursday thanks to a Horwitz RBI single that sealed the win for Buffalo.
Buffalo and Syracuse will square off Saturday at 1:05 pm in the fifth game of a the first six-game meeting between the two clubs this season. Casey Lawrence is expected to start for Buffalo, with Humberto Mejia set to take the ball for the visiting Mets.
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AWAY GAME
