The Syracuse Mets were swept by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in a doubleheader on Friday at NBT Bank Stadium. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won game one, 7-6, in eight innings and game two, 10-1. The RailRiders have won the first four games of this six-game series.
In game one, it was back-and-forth as the two teams traded runs. Greg Bird smashed a two-run home run over the center-field wall to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a quick 2-0 lead. The Mets answered in the bottom half of the inning with a run before SWB padded their lead in the top of the fourth. A pair of runs scored on a throwing error. The RailRiders led 4-1 after the fourth.
In the home half of the fifth, Daniel Palka crushed a three-run home run to right-center to tie the game at four.
The game turned back-and-forth a few times after the fifth inning. The RailRiders took the lead after three straight hits opened up the sixth. They added another in the seventh on an error. Heading to the bottom of the seventh (the final inning) the RailRiders led 6-4.
With one out, Syracuse’s Quinn Brodey tied the game with a two-run blast, forcing extra innings. Jose Peraza drove home the go-ahead run in the eighth, which proved to hold as the 7-6 final in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s favor.
Cole Gordon got the start and allowed two runs on on two hits over two innings while walking two batters and striking out one. Justin Dillon allowed two unearned runs over two innings in relief while Antonio Santos, Stephen Nogosek and Eric Orze each allowed a run.
In game two, the RailRiders offense exploded for 10 runs on 12 hits and the Syracuse pitching just could not stop them. They scored six of the 10 runs in the second. David Freitas homered to right, Oswaldo Cabrera cleared the bases with a three-run triple and Ender Inciarte blasted a solo home run to right to cap off the six-run inning. Matt Reynolds drove in the lone run of the game for the Mets with a RBI groundout in the bottom half of the inning.
Matt Pitta homered to left in the fourth to extend Scranton’s lead to 7-1. Later in the inning, Inciarte drilled his second home run of the game over the right-field wall.
Ryan LaMarre grounded a RBI single to left in the sixth to make it 10-1.
Right-hander Jose Rodriguez started the game for Syracuse and surrendered seven runs on six hits over 3.1 innings while walking three batters and striking out four. Yoan López allowed two runs over 1.1 innings Alex Claudio allowed an unearned run over 1.1 innings. R.J. Alvarez recorded three outs.
The Mets and RailRiders will continue the series on Saturday night at 6:35 p.m.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].