Syracuse offense shines again in 9-2 win at Lehigh Valley on Thursday night

Allentown, PA – The Syracuse Mets continued to dominate the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Thursday night, cruising to a 9-2 win on a cloudy but comfortable May night at Coca-Cola Park. The Mets have now won the first three games of the six-game series, taking the first three games by a combined score of 32-9.

For the second straight day, Syracuse (20-14) scored first to jump in front early. In the top of the first, the first two Mets batters reached on a Ben Gamel double and a Rylan Bannon walk. Mark Vientos then came to the plate and did what he does, smacking a sharp single into center field to score Gamel easily and make it 1-0. Vientos has driven in runs in each of the first three games in this week’s series. The next batter, Carlos Cortes, drove in Bannon via an RBI groundout that made it a 2-0 game. Cortes also drove in a run via a sacrifice fly in Wednesday night’s win for the Mets.

In the bottom of the second, Lehigh Valley (12-21) got a run back on a two-out, solo home run from Scott Kingery. That would be the only run the IronPigs got off Mets’ starter Mike Vasil, who turned in his best outing of the season. Vasil allowed just the one run on four hits in four and two-thirds innings, walking two and striking out three. Vasil entered Thursday night’s outing with an ERA just over ten, but he utilized a strong mix of well-located fastballs and breaking balls to keep the IronPigs batters at bay.

From there, the story became the Syracuse Mets offense yet again. The Mets scored three times in the top of the fourth to extend their lead. After Cortes grounded out to start the inning, the offensive machine got cranked up. José Iglesias started the fun with a booming solo home run, a blast that traveled 427 feet beyond the left-field fence. After that, two straight singles from Trayce Thompson and Mike Brosseau, a Yolmer Sánchez double, and a Hayden Senger sacrifice fly pushed across two more runs and made it a five-run flurry in the first four innings for the Mets for a 5-1 advantage.

In the sixth, Syracuse put the game out of reach with four more runs. Thompson got back on base with a walk to start the inning, followed by a Brosseau single plus a fielding error that put Thompson on third and Brosseau on second base with nobody out. A soft Sánchez flyout kept the runners at their respective bases, but they wouldn’t stay there for long. A Hayden Senger two-run single plated Thompson and Brosseau for a 7-1 lead. Another Gamel single put two runners on base, and then Vientos doubled home Senger and Gamel to finish off the four-run bonanza and the Mets’ scoring on the evening as Syracuse took a 9-1 advantage.

The bullpen finished the job with Danny Young, Tyler Jay, Yacksel Ríos, and Cole Sulser combining to toss the final four and one-third innings of the game. The quartet allowed just one run on two hits and two walks plus six strikeouts. The IronPigs had just one hit among their final 11 batters of the game. An underrated facet of the Syracuse Mets’ success so far this season is their über-reliable bullpen. The Mets have not lost a game yet this season when they lead after seven innings.

Syracuse is on the road for two long weeks away from NBT Bank Stadium. The two-week journey continues at the Lehigh Valley IronPigs this week. First pitch of the fourth game of the series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Friday. Right-hander Justin Jarvis is slated to start for the Mets opposed by right-hander Mick Abel for the IronPigs.