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IL1 Syracuse Mets

Chiefs Clobber RailRiders in Home-Opening Rout

April 16, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Syracuse Mets News Release


Syracuse, NY (April 16, 2015) - The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, led wire-to-wire on Thursday in a 10-2 rout of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. All nine batters in the Chiefs' lineup reached base, with seven scoring a run and seven driving in a run, leading to Syracuse's largest win in a home opener in 30 years.

Syracuse (4-4) came out swinging in its home opener, scoring four runs over the first three innings. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Eric Wooten surrendered a run in the first after hitting Chiefs center fielder Matt den Dekker in the first Chiefs plate appearance of the day. Three batters later, designated hitter Mark Minicozzi hit a sacrifice fly to deep right center field to drive in den Dekker.

The Chiefs tacked on three more runs in the third, as every player got a chance to bat. Five consecutive batters reached base, starting with singles from Emmanuel Burriss and Ian Stewart. Mark Minicozzi walked to load the bases, and two more singles from Kila Ka'aihue and Jason Martinson knocked in Burriss and Stewart. Tony Gwynn, Jr. followed Martinson with a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Minicozzi for Syracuse's third run of the inning.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (2-6) could not get anything going against Syracuse starter Taylor Hill, who faced three batters in each of the first three innings. RailRiders designated hitter Kyle Roller had the first hit of the game for the RailRiders to lead off the second, but he was erased as part of a double play immediately after.

A den Dekker two-run single in the fifth increased the Syracuse lead to 6-0. Den Dekker drove in Tony Gwynn Jr. and Dan Butler, who reached base on errors by second baseman Rob Refsnyder and catcher Austin Romine, respectively.

One inning later, the Chiefs tacked on three more runs to extend their lead to 9-0. Ian Stewart led off the inning with a home run to right-center field over the leaping glove of Slade Heathcott for his first home run of the season and the first home run at NBT Bank Stadium this year. Ka'aihue reached base on a single and moved to third after a ground-rule double by Gwynn, Jr. Butler knocked in both with a double down the left-field line in the next at-bat.

After two RailRiders run in the top of the seventh, Syracuse added another in the bottom of the inning. Burriss led off the bottom of the inning with a triple to deep left-center field. With Burriss on third, Stewart hit another deep fly ball to right field, but this time, Heathcott robbed him of a home run with a leaping catch at the wall. Burriss did scored on the play, giving Stewart a sacrifice fly to extend the Chiefs' lead to 10-2.

Syracuse and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre play the second of a four-game series Friday night at 6:05. Chiefs right-hander Scott McGregor is scheduled to start against RailRider right-hander Bryan Mitchell.

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International League Stories from April 16, 2015


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