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IL1 Syracuse Mets

Chiefs Win Sixth Straight, Move over .500

June 23, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Syracuse Mets News Release


The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, won for the sixth time in a row on Saturday night at Alliance Bank Stadium, taking down the Gwinnett Braves, 12-4. With the victory, Syracuse (38-37) is now over the .500 mark for the first time since April 16, 2011.

The hot Chiefs pounced early on Saturday against a Braves club that entered on a seven-game skid. In the bottom of the first inning, Jim Negrych, who hit a pinch-hit homer on Friday, knocked a one-out double past the first-base bag and down the right-field line. Then with two outs and Negrych still at second base, Syracuse strung together three straight run-scoring hits. Chris Marrero started the rally with a single to right field that plated Negrych and put the North Side squad up 1-0. Mark Teahen followed with a double to the alley in right-center to score Marrero. Brett Carroll capped the barrage off with a double to the left-field corner that drove home Teahen and put the Chiefs ahead 3-0. The two-bagger for Carroll extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

Syracuse added to its lead in the fourth, scoring twice without registering a hit. Highly-touted Braves starter Julio Teheran hit Teahen and walked Carroll to begin the frame. With Koyie Hill at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Teahen and Carroll to advance to third and second, respectively. Hill took advantage of the RBI situation by hitting a sacrifice fly to right field, enabling Teahen to score the Chiefs' fourth run of the game and Carroll to move to third. After Seth Bynum walked, Yunesky Maya scored Carroll with a fielder's choice groundout.

The Chiefs' 5-0 lead carried into the sixth inning thanks to Maya's work on the mound. The right-hander from Cuba gave up two hits and intentionally walked a batter in the first, but pitched his way out of the bases-loaded jam without surrendering a run. Maya retired 15 batters in a row from the first through the sixth, as the Braves only hit the ball out of the infield twice during that sequence.

Gwinnett (37-40), however, gave Maya trouble in the top of the sixth. After Maya induced a Jose Constanza groundout, Tyler Pastornicky reached first on an error at shortstop by Seth Bynum. The next batter, Ernesto Mejia, promptly tagged a two-run homer around the left-field foul pole to bring Gwinnett within three runs at 5-2. The Braves continued to rally after Mejia's home run, as Stefan Gartrell followed with a single and Ruben Gotay walked. Maya left the game at that point in favor of Erik Arnesen. Although Xavier Paul's error on a fly ball by Jose Yepez scored two runs and trimmed the score to 5-4, Arnesen struck out two batters to end the Gwinnett threat.

Syracuse responded with an insurance score in the seventh thanks to Seth Bynum's leadoff triple to right-center. Jarrett Hoffpauir proceeded to score Bynum with a sacrifice fly to center to put the Chiefs back up by two, 6-4.

The close contest suddenly turned into a rout in the home eighth, when the Chiefs scored six times against the Braves' bullpen. Teahen, Hoffpauir, Bynum, Erik Komatsu, Corey Brown (12-game hit streak), and Xavier Paul each tallied an RBI in the onslaught.

In addition to Arnesen, who struck out four batters, Syracuse preserved the win with scoreless innings from Atahualpa Severino and Henry Rodriguez.

The Chiefs host the Braves again at Alliance Bank Stadium on Sunday night at 7:00. Zach Duke is scheduled to start for Syracuse against Gwinnett's Jose Lugo.

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