Ronny Mauricio, Photo by Serena Spencer
The Syracuse Mets and Rochester Red Wings played game 2 of their 6-game set at NBT Bank Stadium on Wednesday. On a 70-degree day, the wind was blowing out at 25 mph at times, much to the dismay of the pitchers on both sides.
Humberto Mejia got the start for Syracuse and the Red Wings got on him right away. In the top of the first, former Met Travis Blankenhorn doubled down the right field line, scoring Darren Baker (Dusty Baker‘s son). That was followed up by a Matt Adams sacrifice fly to center scoring Lucius Fox and the Mets were down 2-0 before they came to bat. In the bottom of the first after a Jonathan Arauz single, the Mets’ No. 1 prospect Francisco Alvarez hit what at first looked like it was a fly ball out to center that kept going with the wind blowing out over the center field wall for his second home run of the young season. Just like that, the game was tied at 2 after the first inning.
- DH Jonathan Araúz 2-for-4, R, 1.002 OPS
- C Francisco Álvarez 1-for-4, HR (2), 2 RBI, 1.056 OPS
- SS Ronny Mauricio 3-for-4, 2 HR (2), 1.164 OPS
- 3B Mark Vientos 0-for-4, 3 K, .865 OPS, 2 Errors defensively
In the second inning, after Kevin Plawecki reached on a Mark Vientos fielding error, Mejia settled down to strike out the next two batters before getting Baker to pop out to end the inning. In the Mets half of the second, Ronny Mauricio led off with his first homer of the season off Red Wings starter Cory Abbott to put the Mets ahead 3-2.
SECOND homer of the day for Ronny Mauricio! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OpMmjZFtvR
— Mets Player Development (@MetsPlayerDev) April 5, 2023
Rochester’s Wilson Garcia led off the fourth inning with what again looked like a fly ball out to right that the wind-aided over the right field wall for his first home run of the season off of Mejia to tie the game at 3-3. Mejia was able to get through the rest of the fourth before being replaced by William Woods who came in to start the fifth for the Mets. Baker greeted Woods with a line drive single to center followed up by a sacrifice bunt by Fox in which he was safe at first after a Vientos throwing error his second error of the game. Blankenhorn followed that up with a single to left, scoring Baker. Things unraveled from there when Adams followed with a three-run homer to right, giving Rochester a 7-3 lead.
Syracuse put another run on the board in the sixth when Mauricio hit his second home run of the game off of Red Wing reliever Jose A. Ferrer but that would be the end of the scoring for the Mets.
- RHP Humberto Mejia 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 6.75 ERA
- RHP William Woods (L, 0-1) 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 HR, 16.20 ERA
- RHP Jose Chacin 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR, 9.00 ERA
The Red Wings scored three more times in the seventh when Blankenhorn hit a solo shot and Wilson hit his second homer of the game. Adams capped things off with his second homer of the game in the ninth, giving him five RBI on the day.
The Syracuse Mets did get some good news on Wednesday when No. 2 prospect Brett Baty‘s x-rays came back negative on his thumb. He’s hoping to be back in the lineup by Friday. Álvarez will be rewarded for his hot start as he is headed up to the parent club after New York Mets catcher Omar Narvaez left their game today with an apparent calf injury. Álvarez will be activated if Narváez needs to land on the injured list.
Game 3 of the Syracuse homestand is scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. start on Thursday with Tony Dibrell getting the start.
