Ritter homers, but Syracuse loses to Buffalo, 8-4, on Thursday 

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets dropped their second game in three days to start a six-game series against the Buffalo Bisons, falling, 8-4, on a sunny Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets never led in the loss.

Buffalo (29-25) pounced on Mike Vasil in the top of the second, scoring the game’s first four runs to take a big early lead. First, Addison Barger led off the inning with a double, followed by a groundball hit to shortstop by Brian Serven that led to everyone being safe. Acuña elected to throw to third base on the play as Barger charged from second to third, and the baserunner slid around the tag to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Leo Jimenez was then hit by a pitch to load up the bases. Will Robertson singled home two runs, Riley Tirotta brought in the third run on an RBI groundout, and Cam Eden drove in the fourth run on a sacrifice fly as Buffalo led, 4-0.

After that early initial trouble, Vasil settled into a solid groove for Syracuse (32-21) on the mound. The right-hander worked into the top of the sixth inning, eventually lasting five and one-third innings while allowing five runs on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts. 16 of the final 17 batters that Vasil faced came to the plate without getting a hit.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Mets got a run back. A one-out single from Rhylan Thomas broke up Paolo Espino’s no-hitter. Thomas moved to second on a two-out Luke Ritter walk and then scored on a Trayce Thompson double to make it a 4-1 game.

In the bottom of the sixth, now trailing 5-1, the Mets nearly came all the way back. With two runners on base and one out, Luke Ritter smashed a three-run home run to turn it into a 5-4 game in the blink of an eye. It was Ritter’s tenth homer of the season in his 47th game.

From there, Buffalo slowly but surely increased the lead into an insurmountable margin for the Syracuse Mets. In the eighth, a solo homer from Rafael Lantigua made it a 6-4 game. In the ninth, two more runs for Buffalo put the game out of reach. An RBI single for Addison Barger plus a sacrifice fly from Lantigua pushed the two-run lead to a four-run advantage, 8-4. By the end of the night, every single Buffalo Bisons batter that came to the plate in the game reached base at least once.

While the Bisons offense increased the lead, their bullpen slammed the door shut. The Mets did not score in the final three innings. In fact, the Mets did not get a hit after the Ritter three-run homer in the sixth inning. The last 12 batters in the game came to the plate for the Syracuse Mets without registering a hit. The home team only had four hits total in the entire game.

Syracuse is home all week playing their instate rivals, the Buffalo Bisons. Game four of the six-game series is set for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Friday. Right-hander Dom Hamel is expected to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Yariel Rodriguez for the Bisons.