Brett Baty and Mike Vasil power Syracuse to, 4-3, win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday night

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets won yet again over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, rallying back from an early two-run deficit to win by a 4-3 final on a muggy summer night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have now won three in a row over the RailRiders after dropping the series opener on Tuesday night. Syracuse has also now won ten of the 16 games they have played against their I-81 rivals so far this season.

Mike Vasil entered his outing for Syracuse (56-34, 10-6) a hot pitcher after tossing three consultive quality starts, but Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (48-41, 5-10) got to Vasil early with runs in the second and fourth innings. A two-out RBI single from Kevin Smith plated the run in the second and a solo home run from Jose Rojas in the fourth boosted the RailRiders out to a 2-0 lead.

From there, Vasil kept the road team in check, tossing six strong innings with just two runs allowed on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander from Boston finished with a flourish, striking out the final two batters that he faced in his start. Vasil has now gone six innings in three straight starts, combining to allow nine runs in 18 innings on 17 hits with three walks and 16 strikeouts.

While Vasil starred on the mound, the Mets’ offense eventually added some run support. After the first 11 batters of the game went down in order against Edgar Barclay, consecutive walks plus a two-out single from Mike Brosseau plated a run in the bottom of the fourth and trimmed the deficit for the Mets to 2-1.

In the fifth, Syracuse had some two-out magic left in its back pocket. With two runners on base and two outs, Brett Baty slammed a three-run homer way over the right-field fence to power Syracuse to its first lead of the night at 4-2. It snapped an 0-for-21 stretch at the plate for Baty and was his first home run since June 26th.

From there, the ballgame was in the hands of the Mets bullpen, and it locked down yet another win. Max Kranick and Bryce Montes de Oca combined to pitch a scoreless seventh, Cole Sulser worked a scoreless eighth, and Ty Adcock sealed the deal in the ninth.

It did not come easy in the ninth, however. Entering the top of the ninth down, 4-2, the RailRiders mounted a desperate late rally. With one out, Jeter Downs singled and stole his way to second, immediately followed by an RBI single from Kevin Smith to cut the deficit down to just one run, 4-3. From there, Adcock buckled down, retiring the next two batters to earn the Mets their third straight win and at least a split of the weeklong, six-game series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The Syracuse Mets are home for a weeklong, six-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The series continues with game five at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday evening at NBT Bank Stadium. Right-hander Blade Tidwell is scheduled to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Will Warren for the RailRiders.