Syracuse pitching roughed up in 16-4 loss to Worcester on Tuesday night

Syracuse, NY – It just wasn’t the Syracuse Mets night on Tuesday. The Mets lost by a 16-4 final to the Worcester Red Sox on a sunny and warm July 2nd in the Salt City. The Mets have dropped the first two games this week to Worcester and have now lost three in a row dating back to the series finale in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon.

Worcester (40-42, 5-2) got to Syracuse (50-32, 4-4) starter Dom Hamel right out of the chute. The WooSox scored three runs just three batters into the ballgame. Chase Meidroth walked to start the game, Nick Sogard singled to move Meidroth to third, and then everyone came home on a Nick Yorke three-run homer over the right-field fence for a 3-0 lead.

The Mets countered with a run off of Worcester starter Bryan Mata in the bottom of the first. Luisangel Acuña singled to start the bottom half of the frame and advanced to second on a throwing error back to the infield. The speedy 22-year-old then stole his way to third bae with one out and scored on a Luke Ritter sacrifice fly to turn it into a 3-1 game.

In the top of the third, Yorke burned the Mets yet again, slugging a two-run homer over the center-field fence to push the WooSox lead out to 5-1. Yorke’s second home run of the night gave him five runs driven in for the game in just the first three innings alone. The former first-round pick by the Boston Red Sox entered the week with a .342 batting average since his initial call-up to the Triple-A level in the first week of June.

Another Worcester home run, a solo shot from Mickey Gasper in the top of the fifth, boosted the lead to 6-1 and eventually helped to force Dom Hamel’s removal from the game. Hamel’s final line was seven runs (all earned) in four and two-thirds innings on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts. After Hamel exited the game with two outs in the top of the fifth and a runner on base, the game completely unraveled on the Mets. A pair of two-out singles from Eddy Alvarez and Chase Meidroth plus two-run doubles from Nick Sogard and Bobby Dalbec pushed six more runs across home plate for the Red Sox in the top of the fifth and broke the game completely wide open, advancing the WooSox lead all the way out to 12-1.

There was still half the game to play, and therefore runs to be scored for both teams. The WooSox plated four more runs in the final four innings. A three-run homer from Dalbec in the eighth highlighted the late scoring for Worcester. By the end of the game, eight of the nine starters for the Red Sox reached base at least twice and eight of the nine also scored runs.

The Mets scored three final times in the last five innings. A Brett Baty RBI double in the fifth was part of the scoring mix, capping off a two-hit night for the 24-year-old Texan. Joe Hudson also hit a solo home run leading off the top of the seventh, his fourth home run in 23 games with Syracuse this season.

The Syracuse Mets wrap up their mini-holiday week homestand with a third home game against the Triple-A of the Boston Red Sox, the Worcester Red Sox, on Wednesday. Game three is slated for a 5:05 p.m. first pitch on Wednesday.