Francisco Álvarez, Photo by Herm Card
Syracuse was defeated in the organization’s lone minor league game on Saturday, but Francisco Álvarez had yet another impressive game. He reached base three times, continuing the impressive hot streak he has been on since returning from injury in early September. Over the last week, Álvarez is second in the International League in OPS with a .500/.556/.958 slash line.
AAA: Worcester Red Sox (73-72) 7, Syracuse Mets (62-84) 5 Box Score
- Francisco Álvarez C: 1-for-3, R, 2 BB, K, .228/.364/.450
- Jake Mangum DH: 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K, .336/.370/.469
- Gosuke Katoh 2B: 2-for-5, R, HR, 3 RBI, K, .216/.298/.376
The Mets were 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position during Saturday’s extra-inning game, but they came up short when they needed a clutch hit the most. Going into the eleventh inning, Katoh immediately singled the ghost runner over to third base, giving the offense a great opportunity to take the lead. Unfortunately, the next two batters hit into a double play and struck out, respectively, while the bullpen would give up a walk-off homer in the bottom half of the inning.
Although Katoh’s eleventh-inning hit was unable to bring in that key run, it was his hitting that got Syracuse to extra innings in the first place. He blasted a home run with two men on base in the sixth inning, tying the game at four runs apiece.
Álvarez continued his very strong finish to the season. He extended his hitting streak to seven games and is now hitting .368/.442/.658 so far in September.
Mangum has not been far behind Álvarez this month, as he is hitting .347/.386/.507 in September.
- RHP Connor Grey (5-6, 6.38 ERA) 3.2 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 6 K
- RHP Michel Otanez (4-1, 6.37 ERA) 1.0 IP, H, BB, 2 K
- RHP Eric Orze (4-3, 5.13 ERA) 2.0 IP, H, R, 3 K
Grey had the most strikeouts of any of his starts in which he did not walk a batter on Saturday, but his solid peripherals did not lead to a strong overall line. He gave up nearly three times as many hits as innings pitched and now has a 13.50 ERA during the month of September.
Otanez has given up just one run over six appearances this month and has cut his walk rate from August’s awful 17.7 BB/9 to a much more tolerable 6 BB/9 during that span. Orze allowed the ghost runner to score in the tenth but otherwise had his best appearance of the month.
Sam Clay came into the game in the bottom of the eleventh and gave up a walk-off home run on the first pitch he threw.
