Syracuse offense breaks out for 15-7 win over Charlotte on Tuesday night

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets began their final series of the season in style, taking down the Charlotte Knights, 15-7, on a sunny Tuesday night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets have now won three out of their last four games, scoring 48 runs in the process. Syracuse is also ten games above .500 at home for the season, with a 40-30 overall record.

Charlotte (66-76, 33-35) got to Syracuse (75-69, 29-41) with a run in the top of the first. Mark Payton singled to start the game, moved to third on a Colson Montgomery double, and Payton scored on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.

The Mets immediately bounded right back with three runs in the bottom of the second to grab the lead, benefiting from a pair of costly errors in the frame. An infield single from José Azocar plated one of the runs, the only hit the Mets would have in the inning. A walk, a balk, two walks, and two stolen bases helped the other runs come across home plate for the Mets in the three-run second inning for a 3-1 advantage.

The Knights tied it up in the blink of an eye in the top of the third when Tim Elko blasted a two-run home run over the fence in right-center field to knot the game up, 3-3.

That tie didn’t even last a half inning, as the Mets roared back into the lead with a four-run flurry in the bottom half of the third inning. All the runs came with two outs, With Luke Ritter on second base and two down in the inning, a Yolmer Sánchez single drove Ritter in and pushed Syracuse back in front 4-3. After an Azocar single extended the inning, JT Schwartz smashed a three-run homer over the right-field wall to surge the lead for the Mets all the way out to 7-3.

True to form, the Knights would immediately bounce right back with three runs in the top of the fourth to make it a one-run game again, 7-6. Five hits for Charlotte in the fourth helped the cause, with a two-run single from Elko leading the charge. The Ole Miss alum finished the night with four runs driven in.

It stayed at that 7-6 margin until the bottom of the sixth, when the Mets began pulling away. A quick two runs turned it back into a three-run cushion at 9-6, with a pair of top prospects driving in the runs. First, a one-out, RBI double from Jett Williams for his first Triple-A hit plated Schwartz, who had walked leading off the inning. Later in the frame, a Drew Gilbert sacrifice fly scored Wyatt Young (he had also walked earlier in the inning) and made it a 9-6 game.

Another pair of runs came for the Mets in a familiar fashion in the bottom of the seventh when Azocar slugged a two-run homer to up the lead to 11-6. Azocar had a great game, finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with two singles, a home run, three runs scored, and three runs driven in.

After a Charlotte run in the top of the eighth slimmed the game back down to 11-7, the Mets put the hammer down in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Sánchez hit a grand slam over the right-field fence to cap off the night’s scoring at 15-7. Sánchez finished the night with five runs driven in, his second five-RBI game in the last four games. Sánchez also drove in five runs in a win at Worcester on Friday evening.

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, continues at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday.