Baty homers twice as Syracuse beats Buffalo, 7-4, on Wednesday afternoon 

Buffalo, NY – The Syracuse Mets shook off a slow start and roared ahead late, plating runs in each of the final five innings in a 7-4 win over the Buffalo Bisons on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon in Western New York. The Mets have now won the first two games of the second half of the season and the first two games of the weeklong, six-game series at Sahlen Field this week in Buffalo.

Buffalo (37-39, 0-2) jumped on top first, plating a run in the bottom of the second inning to nab a 1-0 lead. Will Robertson tripled to start the inning and scored on an RBI groundout from Max McDowell.

The Bisons scored again in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring three total runs off Syracuse starter Mike Vasil. In the fourth, a run scored after Damiano Palmegiani doubled to start the frame, moved to third on a flyout, and scored on another RBI groundout from McDowell. In the fifth, Michael Turconi singled with two outs to extend the inning, moved to second when Leo Jimenez was hit by a pitch, and then scored on another two-out single from Alan Roden.

All told, however, it would end up being a positive outing for Vasil, continuing a strong stretch of recent pitching. The right-hander from Boston allowed three runs in six innings of work, scattering six Buffalo hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Vasil finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the sixth to end his day. In Vasil’s last seven outings combined since May 9th, Vasil has allowed 19 earned runs in 39 innings on 38 total hits while walking 13 batters and striking out 31.

Vasil’s solid start kept the Mets in the game, and the offense would make it count late. After not scoring in the first four innings, Syracuse scored in each of the final five frames to tie the game and then take the lead for good. In the fifth, the Mets crawled closer on a two-out RBI single from Austin Allen that scored Rhylan Thomas.

In the sixth, Brett Baty continued his demolition tour (that would persist later in the game) with a solo home run to turn it into a 3-2 game.

In the seventh, the Mets went in front for good. After Pablo Reyes grounded out to start the inning, Rhylan Thomas doubled with one out and then scored to tie the game on an RBI single from Carlos Cortes to make it a 3-3 ballgame. After an Austin Allen single put two back on base with one out, Luisangel Acuña smacked a single into left field to score Cortes and give the Mets the lead, 4-3. Acuña now has multiple hits in each of the first two games this week in Buffalo and a team-leading 21 multi-hit games this season.

In the eighth, two more runs for the Mets upped the lead to 6-3. Again, the magic began to happen after an initial out to start the inning. A Luke Ritter groundout to start the inning only slowed down Syracuse briefly. Consecutive singles from Mike Brosseau and Pablo Reyes put two on with one out. A fielder’s choice groundout put Brosseau on third and Thomas on first. Then Cortes doubled them both home with yet another sweet swing for a double to the right-field corner for a 6-3 advantage. Cortes’ two-run double continued an über-impressive beginning to his week in Buffalo. In the first two games, the former South Carolina Gamecock is 6-for-9 with a double, a home run, and five runs driven in.

After a run in the bottom of the eighth briefly helped Buffalo slim the deficit down to 6-4, it was Baty’s time to shine again. Brett slammed yet another no-doubt homer over the right-field fence, a solo shot to start the ninth, giving Syracuse a 7-4 lead to put the cherry on top of a winning sundae. Baty has now hit home runs in three of his ten plate appearances so far this week. In 16 games since coming back to the Triple-A level, Baty is batting .354 with eight home runs and 20 runs driven in.

While Baty has deservedly grabbed the headlines so far this week, the entire offense has had its time in the sun. Syracuse has scored 17 runs in two games this week with 25 hits in the series so far. All but one player in the starting lineup had a hit in Wednesday’s win, and five different players had multi-hit games.

The Syracuse Mets are on the road all week at the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Buffalo Bisons. Game three of the six-game series at the Bisons is set for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Thursday. Right-hander Dom Hamel is slated to start for the Mets.