Syracuse outlasts St. Paul with 3-2, extra-inning win on Friday night

St. Paul, MN – The Syracuse Mets got the last laugh on Friday night, rallying back from an early deficit to score the game’s final three runs and take down the St. Paul Saints (Triple-A Minnesota Twins) by a 3-2 score in ten innings at CHS Field. The Mets have now won back-to-back games against the Saints and have knotted up the weeklong, six-game series at two games apiece. The Syracuse pitching staff tied a season high with 16 strikeouts in the game.

St. Paul (27-33) once again got off to a strong start, scoring first for the third time out of the four games so far this series. The Saints opened the scoring via a two-run homer from Tony Kemp, his second straight day with a two-run blast.

However, the Saints wouldn’t score again off Syracuse (36-24) starter José Buttó, who battled his way to a quality start. The right-hander allowed just the two earned runs on five hits in six innings, walking four and striking out six. Buttó stranded six runners on base in his start, which turned out to be a quality bounce back outing after allowing seven earned runs last weekend against Buffalo.

On the other side, the St. Paul starter also wowed the crowd. David Festa, widely considered the top pitching prospect for the Minnesota Twins, allowed two earned runs on five hits in five innings, walking one and striking out six. The best feature for Festa was his ability to fill up the strike zone. Festa threw 84 pitches on Friday night, 60 of which were strikes.

Festa’s kryptonite on Friday evening was one of the New York Mets’ top prospects, Luisangel Acuña. The 22-year-old went 2-for-3 against Festa, including a triple to lead off the top of the first inning and a game-altering sequence in the top of the third. After Hayden Senger doubled to begin the frame, Acuña singled home Senger to make it a 2-1 game in the top of the third. Acuña then moved to second on a Pablo Reyes groundout, stole his way to third, and then scored on a game-tying RBI groundout from Luke Ritter, knotting the game up, 2-2. Acuña has now stolen 21 bases and has scored 47 runs in 57 games so far this season.

The game remained tied, 2-2, all the way until the tenth inning as both bullpens held the line. Ronny Henriquez was brilliant for St. Paul, tossing three scoreless innings of relief on just one hit with three strikeouts. Ryan Jensen also tossed a clean ninth inning.

On the other end, Matt Festa was remarkably good for Syracuse, striking out five batters in two scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. Eric Orze also fanned two in a clean bottom of the ninth to push the game into extra innings.

In the top of the tenth, the Syracuse Mets had the last little push to get across the finish line and get the win. With Carlos Cortes as the free runner on second base in extra innings with nobody out, a one-out double from Senger brought Cortes home and made it a 3-2 game.

That would be enough for Orze in the bottom of the tenth, who navigated some choppy waters to earn the win. Edouard Julien was the free runner on second with nobody out for St. Paul. Julien advanced to third on a one-out single from Matt Wallner, but that would be as close as the Saints would to scoring. Orze struck out back-to-back batters to end the game and hand the Mets their second win in as many days.

Syracuse is on the road all week for their first-ever series against the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, the St. Paul Saints. Game five of the six-game series is scheduled for Saturday evening with left-hander Joey Lucchesi slated to start for the Mets. Right-hander Randy Dobnak is expected to counter for the Saints. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET