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IL1 Syracuse Mets

Chiefs Rally, Walk off over Bulls

May 9, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Syracuse Mets News Release


Syracuse, NY (5/8/2015) - The Syracuse Chiefs, Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, defeated the Durham Bulls, 9-8, in 12 innings on Saturday. Matt den Dekker drew a walkoff walk as the Chiefs erased a five-run deficit to take the second game of the three-game series.

Durham (18-12) tallied first in the top of the second inning against Syracuse starter Taylor Hill. Curt Casali led off the second with a single to left field. Alexi Casilla followed with a two-run home run over the right-center-field fence to give Durham an early 2-0 lead.

Syracuse (12-17) answered immediately in the next half-inning. Ian Stewart lined a single to left field and advanced to second on an error by Eugenio Velez. Jason Martinson followed Stewart with an RBI double to left-center field. The left fielder's 11th RBI of the season made it 2-1 after two innings.

The Bulls exploded for four runs in the top of the fifth. Taylor Motter began the fifth with a single up the middle and moved to second on a fly out by Velez. Motter's aggressiveness on the bases paid off as Mikie Mahtook drove him in with a base hit to right field. With two outs, the Bulls-bats blasted back-to-back homers against Hill. Allan Dykstra just barely cleared the right-center field fence for a two-run home run. Curt Casali followed with a line-drive long ball of his own to increase the Durham lead to 6-1.

The Chiefs started crawling back into the contest in the bottom of the fifth inning. Cutter Dykstra and Dan Butler began the inning with singles to right field. Josh Johnson drove in Dan Butler for his first RBI of the season. After Butler and Johnson moved up a base on a fly out by Darin Mastroianni, Tony Gwynn Jr. plated a run with an RBI groundout to first base to make the score 6-3.

Stewart continued his hot hitting against Durham in the sixth to cut the lead to 6-4. After Mark Minicozzi led off the inning with a double to right-center field, Stewart knocked in his team-leading 18th run batted in with a single to close the deficit to two. With two more hits Saturday, Stewart now has four hits and five RBIs in two games against Durham.

Velez increased the deficit to three runs in the top of the eighth inning against reliever Mitch Lively. The left fielder hooked a line drive off the foul pole in right field to give the Bulls a 7-4 lead. The solo shot was the fourth of five home runs for Durham on Saturday.

Syracuse kept fighting and closed the gap even further in the bottom of the eighth. With one out and Minicozzi on first, Jason Martinson launched his fifth home run of the season over the left-field wall. The first Syracuse homer of the afternoon cut the deficit to 7-6 heading into the ninth.

Just one game after the Bulls' five-run comeback, the Chiefs completed a five-run comeback of their own in the bottom of the ninth. Pinch hitter Kila Ka'aihue led off with a single past the shift into right field. After Mastroianni sacrificed the pinch runner Matt den Dekker to second, Gwynn Jr. followed with an RBI single to center field to tie the game at seven.

Evan Meek saw his scoreless-innings streak snapped at 22 in the top of the 11th. On the first pitch Meek threw, J.P. Arencibia clubbed a solo home run to deep right-center field. Arencibia's fifth long ball of the year gave Durham an 8-7 lead.

Once again, Syracuse came back to tie the score with three outs left in the game. Den Dekker singled his way on base with a hit to right field against left-hander Jordan Norberto. Two batters later, Gwynn Jr. lined a single to right field. Motter committed an error, which allowed den Dekker to come around to score all the way from first to tie the game at eight.

The game needed 12 innings to be completed before a walkoff walk gave the Chiefs a 9-8 victory. Stewart led off the 12th with a walk. The next batter, Martinson, singled to third base to put two on with no outs. Dykstra laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third. The Bulls opted to intentionally walk Dan Butler to load the bases. Den Dekker then worked a full count before he drew a walk from Norberto to win the game.

Syracuse aims for a series win in the rubber game with Durham on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. The Chiefs turn to ace A.J. Cole in the rubber match against left hander Enny Romero for the Bulls.

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