STAFF REPORTS
Like fireworks into the night sky, the Syracuse Mets exploded at the plate with a six-run, six-hit outing in the sixth en route to a 7-5 victory over the Buffalo Bisons to start a four-game weekend series Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse.
After splitting a doubleheader the night before hosting Lehigh Valley, the Herd had the edge when Socrates Brito‘s first of two sacrifice fly-outs scored Andy Burns in the third inning and a RBI double from Patrick Kivlehan and an insurance sacrifice fly from Reese McGuire in the sixth inning resulted in a 3-1 lead.
The Mets then decided to have some fireworks of their own against Buffalo’s bullpen combination of Bisons relievers David Garner and Kirby Snead. After Garner struck out the side in the fifth, Syracuse swung back in the sixth. In a matter of minutes, back-to-back singles from Arismendy Alcantara and Rajai Davis unraveled into a three-run home run from Ruben Tajada for the Mets’ 4-3 lead and to change the momentum of the rest of the game.
Snead couldn’t stop the bleeding either once he came in with one out. Already with two men on base, Snead’s first batter, Gregor Blanco, had a base-hit into the outfield to load the bases, leading to Travis Taijeron‘s two-run single for the 6-3 lead. Snead bounced back though as he forced Alcantara into a sacrifice pop-out and Davis to strike out to end the Mets’ 10-batter frame.
Now trailing 7-3, the Bisons quickly made up ground in their next at-bat in the top of the seventh. A lead-off double from Jordan Patterson against Jacob Rhane resulted in positive results as Brito once again brought a teammate home two batters later with another sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 7-4. Along with singles in the third and fifth innings, Patterson finished the night 3 of 4 at the plate for his 11th multi-hit game of the season.
Snead threw one more time tonight in the seventh inning where he recorded his second and final strikeout and forced a doubleplay ball against Rene Rivera to complete another multi-inning appearance. Ty Tice did his best to hold down the fort too with his eighth inning appearance, allowing one hit, a walk and two men stranded.
But despite a solo home run from Bo Bichette in the ninth inning to trim Syracuse’s lead to 7-5, the Herd left too many base-runners stranded late in the game to secure the victory. In the eighth inning, the bases were left loaded while, in the ninth, with two men on, the game ended with two pop-outs and a ground-out. Buffalo finished tonight with 10 runners left on base.
Not all was lost as Shawn Morimando made strong strides in his first start for the Herd in almost a month. After allowing a lead-off single, Morimando, who last started on June 5, retired his next 10 batters. The streak ended when Espinosa’s solo home run in the bottom of the fourth tied the game at 1. He then retired his next two batters – ending his night with his fifth and final strikeout against Rymer Liriano. Allowing only two hits and the run, Morimando finished his four-inning outing on 50 pitches (36 strikes).