Syracuse outslugged by Columbus in 11-5 defeat on Thursday night

 

Mark Vientos reached base three times, including with a three-run home run on Thursday night (Rick Nelson).

COLUMBUS, OH – The Syracuse Mets smacked three home runs but came up short on Thursday night, falling by an 11-5 final to the Columbus Clippers at Huntington Park. The Clippers have won the first three games of the six-game series.   

  

A strong wind was blowing out to left field all night long, and both teams took advantage. The Mets and Clippers combined to hit five home runs in the game, with each one hit to left field. Syracuse slugged its first round-tripper of the night in the top of the second inning after Columbus plated an early run in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. With nobody on base and one out, Matt Reynolds slugged an 0-1 pitch over the wall, knotting the game at one with his first home run of the season.  

  

Syracuse (1-7) promptly grabbed its first lead of the series in the very next inning. Leading off the top of the third, Nick Plummer hit an opposite-field blast to left field to push the Mets to a 2-1 lead. Plummer, playing his first game of the season with the Mets, was excellent on Thursday night. The former first-round pick by the Cardinals in 2015 finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored.   

  

From there, the Clippers plated the game’s next four runs to take a 5-2 lead. Ike Freeman’s two-run home run in the bottom of the third gave Columbus the lead back at 3-2 and the home team scored two more times in the bottom of the fourth. Mitchell Tolman walked leading off the frame, with a Jose Fermin single moving him to third with nobody out. A Mike Rivera single plated Tolman, followed by a Freeman double-play groundout that did succeed in bringing home Fermin to make it a 5-2 ballgame. 

  

However, Syracuse wasn’t done scoring quite yet. With one out in the top of the fifth, a Plummer single put a runner on first. Carlos Cortes was then plunked by a pitch, putting two runners on base with one out. After a Khalil Lee strikeout, Mark Vientos made sure the inning would not go for naught. He pounded a 2-2 pitch well over the wall in left-center field, a no-doubt shot that tied the game at five in one fell swoop. It was the first home run of the season for Vientos, who hit 25 home runs in the Minor Leagues last season.  

  

The rest of the night would belong to Columbus. The Clippers scored the final six runs of the game, highlighted by a four-run seventh inning that put the game out of reach. Freeman’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh completed the scoring in the frame and the game. The ninth hitter in the Columbus lineup finished the game 2-for-4 with four runs driven in on two home runs 

  

Offense ruled the night at Huntington Park. Half of the combined 16 hits in the game were extra-base hits, with four players posting multi-hit games. 12 players in the game had at least one hit, including all but one of the nine starters in the Clippers lineup.   

  

Syracuse and Columbus continue their six-game series on Friday evening. Right-hander Connor Grey is slated to make his second start of the season for the Mets opposite Clippers left-hander Tanner Tully. First pitch is set for 6:15 p.m.