Mets beat Red Wings, 8-4, to force one-game playoff for North Division title

Rochester, NY - The Syracuse Mets extended their season with an 8-4 victory against the Rochester Red Wings on Monday afternoon at Frontier Field. Syracuse now plays the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in a one-game playoff on Tuesday afternoon to determine the International League North Division champion because both teams finished the season with a 75-65 record.

Syracuse (75-65) got its offense going early in the top of the first inning. With one out, Jed Lowrie singled to left field. Two batters later, Jason Krizan hit a two-out double to left field, scoring Lowrie from first base to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
The Mets continued the scoring in the second. With one out, Braxton Lee doubled to left field, and Aaron Altherr followed with a double to center to bring home Lee and push the lead to 2-0.
Rochester (70-70) got on the board in the fourth on a two-out home run by Brandon Barnes to trim the Mets lead to one, 2-1.
Arismendy Alcantara got the run back a half-inning later. Again with two outs, Alcantara hit a solo home run to right-center field to make the score 3-1.
In the sixth inning, Krizan led off with a double. Three batters later, Altherr singled to center field to score Krizan from second and extend the Mets advantage to three, 4-1.
Syracuse put the game out of reach in the seventh, nearly simultaneous to the result of a RailRiders loss to the Bisons becoming final in Moosic, PA. Alcantara started the inning with a single, stole second base, and moved to third on a Travis Taijeron single. Danny Espinosa then singled to left to bring home Alcantara for a 5-1 edge. Two batters later, Rubén Tejada singled to right field in his first game back with Syracuse, and Taijeron scored on the hit for a 6-1 lead. Altherr capped the inning with a two-out, two-run single for his third and fourth RBIs of the day, pushing the margin to 8-1.
The Red Wings did get closer over the final two innings. In the eighth, Wilin Rosario hit a two-run home run to make the score 8-3. In the ninth, Mike Miller brought in a run on a groundout to the right side to bring Rochester within four, 8-4. Syracuse reliever Tim Peterson struck out Yeltsin Encarnacion to end the game and once again tie the RailRiders atop the North Division.
Syracuse now travels to Moosic, PA to play its one-game playoff against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for the North Division title on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.