Syracuse rally falls short in 4-2 loss at Rochester on Thursday night

Rochester, NY – The struggles for the Syracuse Mets on the road continued on Thursday night as the Rochester Red Wings scored the game’s last two runs in a 4-2 win on a sunny and warm Thursday night at Innovative Field. The Mets have now lost the first three games of the weeklong, six-game series at the Red Wings. Syracuse has also lost 13 of its last 15 games away from NBT Bank Stadium.

Rochester (63-52, 25-17) got on the board in a flash in the bottom of the first, as a one-out double from Darren Baker was followed by a two-run homer from Brady House to blast the Red Wings out to an early 2-0 lead. It was the second time in the first three games of the week in which Rochester had been the initial team to score.

Neither team would score again until the top of the sixth, as both teams settled into a well-pitched bullpen game. Syracuse (64-51, 18-23) saw Max Kranick toss the first two innings and then Joey Lucchesi dazzle in the next three, giving up just one hit and three baserunners in his three innings of strong work. In his last two outings out of the bullpen, Lucchesi has yet to allow a run in six and two-thirds innings.

On the other side, Spenser Watkins pitched the first two innings, Carlos Romero pitched the next two and then Adonis Medina tossed a clean fifth inning to keep the Mets off the board in the first five innings. Syracuse had just three runners on base in the initial five frames of the ballgame.

In the top of the sixth, Medina came back out hoping to retain the 2-0 game, but the Mets finally broke open the scoring seal. With runners on first and third and two outs in the inning, Drew Gilbert came to the plate and smoked a double off the base of the center-field wall, scoring both runners with a two-out, two-run double to tie the game, 2-2, in the blink of an eye. It snapped an eight-game streak without an extra-base hit for Gilbert.

In the bottom of the sixth, it took exactly one batter for Rochester to take the lead back for good. House drilled yet another home run to lead off the inning, with this solo shot continuing his torrid pace to start the series. In the first three games, House has homered three times, doubled three times, driven in seven runs, and scored six runs.

In the bottom of the eighth, still up 3-2, the Wings picked up a big insurance run. Jake Alu walked to lead off the inning. As Jackson Cluff struck out, Alu stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Syracuse catcher Austin Allen. The next batter, Dylan Crews, then lofted a fly ball deep enough into left field for a sacrifice fly out to score Alu and make it a 4-2 game.

Down to their last hope in the top of the ninth trailing 4-2, the Mets tried to mount a desperate rally to keep the game going. With two outs and nobody on base, consecutive walks to Luke Ritter and DJ Stewart plus a Pablo Reyes single loaded up the bases with the Mets down by two runs. That brought Eddie Rosario to the plate, the longtime Big Leaguer who joined the New York Mets organization earlier in the week. With a chance to play hero, Rosario struck out swinging to end the game and hand the Syracuse Mets their third straight loss to start the week in Rochester.

The Syracuse Mets are on the road all week, taking on the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, the Rochester Red Wings. Game four of the six-game series is set for 6:45 p.m. first pitch on Thursday. Right-hander Blade Tidwell started for the Mets opposite left-hander Andrew Alvarez for the Red Wings.