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IL Syracuse Mets

Mets Fall to Red Sox, 7-3, on Friday Night

July 7, 2023 - International League (IL)
Syracuse Mets News Release


Worcester, MA - The Syracuse Mets fell behind early and never caught up on Friday night as Worcester scored seven runs on 11 hits en route to a 7-3 win over the Mets on a warm summer night at Polar Park. The WooSox have now won three of the first four games in this week's six-game series. Worcester has also won five of the first seven games the Red Sox have played against the Mets so far this season, scoring 51 total runs in the process.

Syracuse (35-48, 2-7) entered the ballgame feeling about as confident as you can feel, bringing their star starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi onto the mound to begin the night. Lucchesi entered Friday night with a sparking 2.91 ERA in ten prior appearances in Triple-A this season, but this evening proved to be abnormal for the Californian. Worcester (44-40, 5-4) tagged Lucchesi for six runs on eight hits in his four innings of work, scoring a run in every inning that Lucchesi pitched on Friday night.

In the first and second frames, the WooSox burned Lucchesi via two-out RBI hits. In the first, with Pablo Reyes standing on second base, Bobby Dalbec drove Reyes home via an RBI double to make it a 1-0 ballgame.

In the second, consecutive RBI singles with two outs from Ceddanne Rafaela and Reyes drove in Nick Sogard and Narciso Crook respectively to give the Red Sox a 3-0 edge.

In the third and fourth, the Red Sox tacked on even more runs and chased Lucchesi from the ballgame early. In the third, Worcester scored twice yet again on a two-run double from Ronaldo Hernandez that plated Dalbec and Wilyer Abreu for a 5-0 advantage.

In the fourth, Rafaela hit a solo homer over the left-field fence that made it a sixth run allowed by Joey Lucchesi. The left-hander has hit a bit of rut overall in his last two outings, allowing 11 earned runs in his last nine and one-thirds innings pitched.

Syracuse got on the board themselves in the top of the fourth when Jaylin Davis pounded a two-run homer over the left-field fence to make it a 6-2 game after Luke Voit had reached to begin the inning on an error. Davis now has home runs in back-to-back games, haunting his old team (the Worcester Red Sox) in the process. All three former WooSox players currently playing for the Syracuse Mets (Abraham Almonte, Jonathan Araúz, and Jaylin Davis) have hit home runs at Polar Park this week.

Unfortunately for the Mets sake, that brief flurry in the fourth wouldn't lead to much else the rest of the night. Voit did hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth, but that would be the last run the Mets score on a frustrating night at the plate. They had just two hits in the final five innings of the ballgame and had only four total baserunners during that time.

Rafaela capped off the scoring for Worcester and his own brilliant night at the plate with another solo homer in the bottom of the sixth. The 22-year-old, widely considered one of the best prospects in the Boston Red Sox minor-league system, finished Friday night's game 3-for-5 at the plate with two home runs, two runs scored and three runs driven in. Rafaela has three dingers so far this week against the Syracuse Mets.

Syracuse is on the road all this week for a six-game series against the Worcester Red Sox. The fifth game of the series is slated for a 6:45 p.m. first pitch on Saturday evening.

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