Syracuse falls to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 11-5, on Thursday night

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets can’t solve the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Rubik’s cube so far this week. The Mets fell, 11-5, to the RailRiders on Thursday night. The Mets have also now lost five out of their last six games overall.

Syracuse (71-62, 25-34) jumped on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (77-56, 34-25) starting pitcher, the rehabbing Big Leaguer Cody Poteet, with two runs in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead. All the damage came with two outs – four straight singles from Luke Ritter, Austin Allen, Mike Brosseau, and Carlos Cortes plated two runs and put the Mets in front. Syracuse has now scored first in two of the first three games in the series.

Mike Vasil, Syracuse’s starting pitcher, danced around the fire in the first two innings by leaving two runners on base in each inning. However, in the third, Vasil finally got burned. The RailRiders scored five times to roar back in front, 5-2, sending nine men to plate in the inning. Four hits highlighted the five-run flurry, capped off by a two-run single from TJ Rumfield and an RBI single from Taylor Trammell later in the inning.

In the top of the fourth, a two-run homer from Ben Rice made it 7-2 and chased Vasil from the game. Vasil’s final line was seven runs (all earned) allowed on eight hits in three and one-third innings with four walks and three strikeouts.

In the bottom half of the fourth, the Mets briefly got some momentum back on a solo home run from JT Schwartz to slim the deficit to 7-3.

That momentum did not last as the RailRiders surged again with three more runs in the top of the fifth to make it a seven-run advantage at 10-3. The frame was highlighted by a two-run homer from Jasson Domínguez. The top prospect in the New York Yankees minor-league system finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate with two singles, a home run, three runs scored, and two runs driven in. The 21-year-old has also homered in back-to-back games.

Down the stretch, the game became a bit of a home run derby. In the bottom of the eighth, a pair of big flies from Luke Ritter and Carlos Cortes slimmed the Syracuse deficit down to 10-5.

In the top of the ninth, the RailRiders finished the evening’s scoring a Taylor Trammell solo shot to make it 11-5. Trammell finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, a home run, two runs scored, two stolen bases, and two runs driven in.

It was an incredibly balanced offensive attack for the RailRiders as every single player in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s starting nine reached base at least once, seven of them had hits, and seven players scored runs.

The Syracuse Mets are in the midst of their penultimate homestand of the season, playing a six-game series against the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Game four of the six-game series is set for Friday at 6:35 p.m. Right-hander Joander Suarez is slated to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Will Warren for the RailRiders.