Syracuse falls to Charlotte, 7-3, on Thursday night

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets entered Thursday night’s game against the Charlotte Knights with a red-hot offense, having scored 56 combined runs in the prior five games. On Thursday night, the Mets cooled off, scoring just three runs in a 7-3 loss to the Knights at NBT Bank Stadium in front of an electric crowd of 6,345. Charlotte has now won two of the first three games in the six-game series, the last of the 2024 season.

Brandon Sproat, the Mets’ top pitching prospect, made his final start of the 2024 season for Syracuse (75-71, 29-43) on Thursday night, but it was Charlotte (68-76, 34-36) that got to him early on. The Knights plated two runs in the top of the first with a pair of doubles from Mark Payton and Tim Elko plating the first run. Then, a two-out RBI single from Carlos Pérez getting the second run across home plate for a 2-0 edge.

The Mets got one of those tallies back in the bottom of the first when Jett Williams walked to start the inning, stole his way to second base, and then scored on a sacrifice fly from DJ Stewart to make it a 2-1 game.

In the bottom of the second, the Mets played a little small ball to tie the game up. Yolmer Sánchez was hit by a pitch with one out, promptly sprinting to third on a one-out single from José Azocar. Syracuse then pulled off a double steal, with Azocar swiping second and Sánchez sprinting home as the throw went all the way through to second base. It was the second different time in this week’s series that the Mets pulled off a double steal that included a steal of home plate.

In the top of the third, the tide of the game began to turn on the Mets. Charlotte got a triple to start the inning from Corey Julks, who quickly scored on a Sproat wild pitch that put the Knights back in front 3-2. After the wild pitch, Sproat was lifted from the game early as an injury precaution. That forced Justin Jarvis to enter the game cold out of the bullpen for an extended relief outing, and he was tagged for a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. A Michael Chavis double, a Wilmer Difo triple and a Payton sacrifice fly scored two runs for the Knights in a three-batter sequence to start the fourth for a 5-2 Charlotte lead.

After that sequence, Jarvis settled into a solid long relief outing. In four innings of work, Jarvis allowed just the two runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. In fact, just one of the last 11 Charlotte batters that Jarvis faced had a hit. It was a solid bounce-back outing for Jarvis, who had started at the WooSox last Thursday night and allowed five runs (all earned) on seven hits in two and two-thirds innings.

It remained a 5-2 game into the bottom of the eighth, when the Mets got a run closer. With two outs and Pablo Reyes on second, Sánchez ripped a triple down the right-field line to slim the deficit down to two runs, 5-3. Yolmer has been surging to end the 2024 season, driving in 12 runs in the past six games, including six runs in the first three games of this week’s final series of the season.

In the top of the ninth, Charlotte put the game away on a two-run homer from Julks, capping off his strong night, giving the Knights a 7-3 advantage. Julks finished with a triple, a home run, two runs scored, and two runs driven in. It was a balanced attack all night long for the Knights, who finished the game with 13 hits. Eight of their nine starters had at least one hit and four different players had multiple hits in the win.

The Syracuse Mets are at NBT Bank Stadium all week for their last series of the 2024 season. The six-game series is against the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, the Charlotte Knights, and it continues at 6:35 p.m. on Friday. Right-hander Dom Hamel is expected to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Cory Abbott for the Knights.