Rochester, NY – The Syracuse Mets could not finish off the series victory on Sunday afternoon, falling 6-1 to the Rochester Red Wings (Triple-A affiliate, Washington Nationals) on a cloudy afternoon at Innovative Field. The Mets split the six-game series at the Red Wings this past week, the first week of a two-week road trip away from NBT Bank Stadium. Syracuse won games one, three and five in the six-game series in the Flower City.
After a scoreless first inning, Rochester (15-14) got to work starting in the second inning when they went in front 1-0 on a Travis Blankenhorn solo home run. It was Blankenhorn’s second homer of the week and his third of the season against the Mets, his former team. In the third, two more runs came home on a Victor Robles RBI single followed by a Drew Millas RBI single. In the fourth, the dam broke for Syracuse (17-14), as the Mets allowed three runs to allow the Red Wings to surge out to a 6-0 lead. Blankenhorn drove in two more runs with a single and Millas had an RBI double. Millas finished the week with nine hits against the Mets.
That would complete the final pitching line for Dom Hamel, who had a mixed bag of a week in Rochester amidst his two starts. On Sunday, he allowed six runs (all earned) on eight hits in three and one-thirds innings with three walks and two strikeouts. This past Tuesday, he allowed four earned runs on seven hits in four and one-thirds innings. Hamel entered the week as the reigning International League Pitcher of the Week.
Hamel’s starting pitching counterpart for Rochester, Jackson Rutledge, was outstanding. He tossed six shutout innings, allowing only three hits and one walk while striking out six. In fact, he did not allow a hit from the second through fifth innings, going a 14-batter span without giving up a hit at one point.
The bullpen finished the job from there, allowing just one run in the final three innings to ensure the Red Wings would walk away winners. The lone Mets run of the game came via Mark Vientos’ single home run in the top of the ninth inning, his first since his return to Syracuse. Vientos returned to Triple-A this weekend after a stint with the New York Mets last week, a stint that featured a walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field last Sunday.
A positive to take away for Syracuse from Sunday’s loss was their outstanding bullpen work once again. Three pitchers (Yacksel Ríos, Eric Orze, and Hunter Parsons) tossed the final four innings in hitless and scoreless fashion, striking out five while not walking a single batter. The final 13 batters of the game for Rochester went down in order dating back to the end of the fourth inning.
Syracuse is on the road for two long weeks away from NBT Bank Stadium. The two-week journey continues at the Lehigh Valley IronPigs next week – the first pitch of the initial game of the series is scheduled for 11:00 am ET on Tuesday morning from Allentown, Pennsylvania.
