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IL Syracuse Mets

Top Prospects Shine, But Mets Drop Road Trip Opener at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 9-7, on Tuesday

April 11, 2023 - International League (IL)
Syracuse Mets News Release


Syracuse Mets' Brett Baty at bat
Syracuse Mets' Brett Baty at bat
(Syracuse Mets, Credit: James Farrance)

Moosic, PA - The Syracuse Mets fell in the opening game of their weeklong, six-game series at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A New York Yankees), 9-7, on Tuesday night. Despite the loss, there was plenty to smile about for Mets fans. Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Mark Vientos each hit home runs and have combined for ten home runs in the first ten games of the season.

Early on in the ballgame, it looked like it was destined to be Syracuse's (6-4) night, as the Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead. In the first, it took exactly two batters for Syracuse to score a run. Danny Mendick grounded a sharp single up the middle and into center field to start the game, followed by a line-drive double into left-center field by Brett Baty that plated Mendick and made it a 1-0 game in a flash.

In the second, the Mets doubled the lead on one swing. Leading off the inning, Ronny Mauricio hit a no-doubt blast over the right-field fence, powering Syracuse to a 2-0 lead. Mauricio has been on a week-long tear at the plate. Since turning 22-years-old last Tuesday, Mauricio has gone 9-for-21 at the plate with four home runs, six runs driven in, and six runs scored.

However, from there, it began to go downhill for the Mets. First, Sean Boyle got into quite the groove on the mound for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (6-4), becoming nearly unhittable. The right-handed starter retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced in order, retiring seven of those 11 batters by way of strikeout. Boyle finished his five-inning start with nine total strikeouts and just the two runs allowed on six hits.

As Boyle settled in on the mound, the RailRiders also got cranked up offensively. The fun started for the home team in the second inning when Andrés Chapparo lined a hanging curveball over the left-field fence to make it a 2-1 game. The fateful inning was the third inning, when Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scored four times to take the lead for good. Two separate two-run homers innings doomed the Mets as both Estevan Florial and Chapparo went deep to extend the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lead to four, 5-1. Chapparo has three combined home runs in the last two games for the RailRiders.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tacked on two more runs in the fourth via the long ball, as Florial hit yet another two-run blast to make it a 7-2 game. Florial, who began the season up with the Yankees, finished the night 2-for-3 at the plate, adding a walk and a stolen base to his two big flies.

Syracuse got a little closer in the top of the sixth via a solo home run from Mark Vientos (his third dinger of the season), but Scranton/Wilkes-Barre promptly stretched the lead up to 9-3 when Oswald Peraza singled home two in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Peraza's two-run single came with two outs, which was an all-too-familiar theme for the Mets on Tuesday night. Six of the nine runs that they surrendered came with two outs.

True to form early on in this 2023 campaign, the Syracuse Mets would not go quietly into the night. In the top of the eighth, Syracuse got right back into the game with three runs. After Vientos flied out to start the inning, Jaylin Davis singled, and Ronny Mauricio walked to put two on base with one out. A Jonathan Araúz single (his third of the game) loaded up the bases, bringing Carlos Cortes to the plate. Cortes chopped a grounder on the right side of the diamond, and while Araúz was out at second base on the play, Davis ran home and Cortes made it to first safely to make it a 9-4 game with two runners remaining on base. Nick Meyer then came to the plate and did damage, slicing a two-run double to right field and making it a 9-6 game late in the contest.

It remained a 9-6 game into the top of the ninth inning, giving the Mets a puncher's chance to rally all the way back. Brett Baty led off the inning with a bang, crushing a solo home run to dead-center field to make it just a two-run deficit at 9-7. However, the comeback effort wasn't to be on this night as the next three batters were retired in order and the Mets four-game winning streak was snapped in the defeat.

Syracuse is on the road this entire week, playing six games from Tuesday through Sunday at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Game two in the week-long series is set for 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday night. Right-hander Tony Dibrell is slated to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Randy Vasquez for the RailRiders.

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Images from this story

Syracuse Mets' Brett Baty at bat
Syracuse Mets' Brett Baty at bat
(James Farrance)		   

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