Syracuse 7 - Rochester 5

Syracuse, NY (April 9, 2019) - The Syracuse Mets continued their hot start to the season with a 7-5 comeback victory over the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday afternoon. Trailing by four runs entering the bottom of the third inning, Syracuse scored six runs in the frame en route to the victory. The Mets used timely hitting in the game, going five-for-seven with runners in scoring position.

Syracuse (5-1) jumped on the board in the bottom of the first against Kohl Stewart. Grégor Blanco doubled to left field with one out and moved to third on a groundout. Travis Taijeron followed with an RBI single to right field to plate Blanco for a 1-0 Mets lead.

Rochester (1-5) took the lead in the second. Luke Raley and Zander Wiel singled, and Wynston Sawyer walked to load the bases. Adam Rosales then grounded a single past third to score Raley and tie the game at one. Two batters later, Ronald Torreyes grounded into a force out at third, with Wiel coming into score to give the Red Wings the lead, 2-1.

In the third, the Red Wings added to their lead. Randy César and Raley both singled with one out. After a strikeout, Sawyer doubled to left to score both runners, and Rosales followed with a double of his own to score Sawyer and extend the lead to 5-1. 

PC - Ed Delany

The game completely changed in the bottom of the third however, as the Mets took advantage of a key Red Wings error. Carlos Gomez began the inning by reaching on a throwing error by César on a ground ball to third that would loom over the inning. After a strikeout, Adeiny Hechavarría was hit by a pitch and Travis Taijeron walked to load the bases. Rymer Liriano then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to move Hechavarría to third and score Gomez, plating the first of six unearned runs against Stewart in the inning. Dilson Herrera continued his scorching hot start to the season with a single to center to score Hechavarría from third and make it a 5-3 ballgame. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, Tim Tebow knocked a two-run single through the left side to push both runners home and tie the score at five. Then in his first game since his option from New York, Tomas Nido followed with a line-drive double to right to score Tebow and give the Mets the lead back. David Thompson continued the inning with a single to the right side that deflected off of Stewart, putting runners on first and third. After the Red Wings turned to Fernando Romero, the right-hander quickly threw a wild pitch to move Thompson to second and then hit Gomez to reload the bases. With Blanco batting, Romero threw another pitch to the backstop that nobody advanced on originally, but catcher Winston Sawyer threw errantly behind Thompson at second base, allowing Nido to score for a 7-5 Syracuse advantage.

After 12 runs between the Red Wings and Mets in the first three innings, neither team scored the rest of the way. Rochester's bullpen combination of Romero and Jake Reed did not allow a baserunner after the third. Not to be outdone, Corey Taylor, Paul Sewald and Daniel Zamora combined for six and one-third innings of four-hit scoreless ball without surrendering a walk. Zamora came in with a man on and one out in the ninth for the save to lock up a fifth straight Mets win.

The Mets will look to extend the win streak and sweep the Red Wings on Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. LHP Hector Santiago will make his second start for Syracuse.