Syracuse wraps up week in Buffalo with 9-3 loss on Sunday afternoon

Buffalo, NY – The Syracuse Mets are happy to be leaving Sahlen Field as it was a house of horrors this week. The Mets finished off their weeklong, six-game series at the Buffalo Bisons with a 9-3 loss on Sunday afternoon. The Mets lost five of the six games that they played in Buffalo this week.

Buffalo (48-53, 11-16) got to Syracuse (61-40, 15-12) starter Blade Tidwell in the bottom of the first, scoring twice on a two-run homer from Will Robertson that raced them out to a 2-0 lead. It was the second home run in the last three games for Robertson and his third straight game with an extra-base hit.

The hot hitting for the Bisons continued in the bottom of the second when Phil Clarke started the frame with a double and then Luis De Los Santos brought him home with a two-run homer that sailed over the left-field wall at an estimated distance of 427 feet.

From there, Tidwell turned the tide in his start. He ended up working six innings, not allowing a run after his first two innings of work. In fact, just one of the final 14 batters that he faced reached against him. Tidwell finished with six strikeouts, all of which were swinging. Tidwell had fanned seven Bisons batters in his start against them back on Tuesday – each of the strikeouts in that start were swinging as well. The six-inning start tied the longest career start at the Triple-A level for the talented right-hander from Tennessee.

On the other side, it was a curious start for Aaron Sanchez. The Bisons starter was incredibly wild, throwing just 44 strikes amongst his 86 total pitches while walking seven Mets batters. However, he was also incredibly effective, surrendering just one unearned run in five innings with one hit allowed. Sanchez combined his effective wildness with an ability to avert a total crisis, as the Mets left six runners on base in his five innings of work.

Buffalo added three runs in the bottom of the seventh to push the lead up to a six-run advantage at 7-1, but the Mets refused to quit.

In the top of the eighth, Syracuse began the frame with a Brett Baty walk and a Pablo Reyes two-run homer to slim the deficit to 7-3. That was immediately followed by a double from Jackie Bradley, Jr., capping off a multi-hit day. From there, however, the rally fizzled out, as the next three Mets batters went down in order to keep the deficit at 7-3 entering the bottom of the eighth.

Buffalo boosted the lead back up to six runs with a pair of runs in that bottom of the eighth and then shut out the Mets in the top of the ninth to clinch the 9-3 win.

The Bisons finish the season with a winning record against Syracuse, going 10-8 in 18 total games. The story of the week for Buffalo was their remarkable turnaround at the plate. Buffalo entered the week batting .206 as a team for the month of July, but the Bisons scored at least five runs in five of the six games this week and scored 33 runs in their five wins against the Syracuse Mets.

The Syracuse Mets are in the midst of a two-week road trip that continues with six games at the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, the Columbus Clippers, all next week. After an off day Monday, the series begins on Tuesday with a 7:05 p.m. scheduled first pitch.