Syracuse Mets Get First Win In Extras
Michael Gross
SYRACUSE – Saturday night at NBT Bank Stadium began a bit differently than each of the first of the three nights, prior—the Syracuse Mets were on the scoreboard first against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Just two batters into the bottom of the first inning, second baseman Travis Blankenhorn wraps a fly ball around the right-field foul pole giving the Mets an early one-run lead against the Yankees No. 10 overall prospect, Luis Gil.
One inning later, shortstop Matt Reynolds drove in Mets No. 4 prospect Mark Vientos on a sacrifice fly to center field, giving Syracuse a two-run cushion. Gil would only last 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on 2 hits, awarding one walk and striking out five. 42 of his 66 pitches were strikes.
However, the RailRiders would make it interesting in the fourth inning. Outfielder Tim Locastro singled, driving in Miguel Andujar, the young star who began the 2022 season a level below the Bronx. One batter later, third baseman Jose Peraza smacked a base hit that brought former and now minor league Yankee, Greg Bird, to the plate to tie the game.
Syracuse’s Connor Grey, a New York native and former St. Bonaventure Bonnie, started the game for the Mets. Aside from a first-inning double, Grey retired six of the first seven RailRider hitters, eventually tossing 4.0 innings of two-run baseball. Manager Kevin Bowles had the highest of praise for Grey’s outing.
“[Grey] was great,” Bowles said. “This guy works hard and he competes. He is a great story and he’s got a chance to be pretty good. I saw him a little bit last year, got familiar with him a little bit, and watching him this year, this guy competes, he is aggressive, no fear of contact. He is what you look for.”
The Mets would break the tie in the fifth inning when a passed ball scored Mets No. 27 prospect, catcher Nick Meyer. Not much would happen in this ball game until the top of the ninth inning, when the RailRiders decided to make it interesting.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre second baseman Jose Peraza reached on an error made by Blankenhorn with one out on the board. Peraza eventually came around to score after the No. 2 prospect in the Yankees organization, Oswald Peraza, drove him in on his fourth hit of the night. With that run, Mets pitcher Colin Holderman would add a blown save to his stat sheet but still managed to get Syracuse out of the inning.
In the top of the tenth, the RailRiders threatened but never got the go-ahead run across the plate. In the bottom half of the inning, extra-inning ‘ghost runner,’ Quinn Brodey, was 90 feet away from scoring when Ryan LaMarre, a pinch runner in the top half, dropped a fly ball in left off the bat of Blankenhorn field giving the Syracuse Mets their first win of the season.
While the Mets defeated the RailRiders 4-3, Syracuse was outhit 11-3 over the course of the game. Bowles was still pleased with their performance despite the lack of hits.
“It’s better to have more runs [than hits] I’ll tell you that,” Bowles said. “You have to look at the positives so we’re looking at the quality of the at-bats. We hit some balls pretty hard and also taking your walks, strike zone management, and getting into positive counts. That is what we are looking for right now. But obviously, we’re gonna open up eventually. With this lineup, you can see there are some threats but hopefully, it’s sooner than later.”
