Syracuse Falls to Scranton in Mets Organizational Opener

After Mookie Wilson began the 2022 affiliate schedule with a ceremonial first strike, the excitement on Opening Day dropped precipitously. The Syracuse Mets fell in a season-opening snooze fest at NBT Bank Stadium, losing 5-0 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders.

With both David Peterson and Tylor Megill traveling with the big league club in case of a need for Opening Day innings in Washington, the ball wound up in the hands of Thomas Szapucki. Ulnar nerve transposition surgery cut Szapucki’s 2021 season short following an ugly Major League debut and he came out of the gate looking not looking any better for it. The left-hander topped out at 91 miles per hour in his three-inning look. Neither his slider nor his curveball looked particularly crisp. The Railriders came out swinging from the get-go.

Oswald Peraza, the Yankees No. 2 prospect via MLB Pipeline and second batter of the game, crushed a Szapucki offering into the Mets bullpen in straightway left field. The next batter, Oswaldo Cabrera, smoked a double over Johneshwy Fargas’ head. Later in the frame, Ronald Guzman singled Cabrera home.

Szapucki allowed two runs in three innings as he struck out four with no walks in his 2022 debut.

New Mets manager Kevin Boles said he felt Szapucki was working from behind too often early but found a groove. Boles said, “Obviously coming off the injury usually your command is a little bit off but once he settled in and got into a rhythm, obviously you can see he has pretty good stuff.”

It stayed that way for a while. 27-year-old lefty Matt Krook held the Mets to two hits over five scoreless with seven strikeouts. Travis Blankenhorn’s second inning single and Cody Bohanek’s third inning double proved to be the lone offense against Krook.

It took till the eighth inning for more run-scoring action. With a pair of runners on against right-hander Antonio Santos, Estevan Florial lifted a long homer over the right-field wall. That opened up a five-run lead for Scranton, which is where it would remain.

In the end, Syracuse mustered just four hits in the shutout. Blankenhorn and Bohanek had two each. The team struck out 14 times, with each player in the lineup punching out at least once.

Mets’ infield prospect Mark Vientos grounded out thrice including once into a double play with men on the corners in the sixth inning. He also struck out. Despite some tricky hops on the infield, Vientos made every play that came his way at third.

The Mets had some bright spots on the mound in relief of Szapucki. Rob Zastryzny and Stephen Nogosek each worked scoreless relief. Zastryzny worked three innings, allowing just a hit and a walk. Nogosek struck out two in an inning and a third while staying in the mid-90s with his fastball.

The Kevin Boles era in Syracuse is off to an 0-1 start. After the game, Boles said the opening effort wasn’t concerning despite the lack of offense. He said, “We want to score some runs, especially on opening night, but as far as being concerning, no it’s not. We can come out tomorrow and score ten runs.”

Khalil Lee was unavailable for Syracuse tonight and will remain on the bench for at least a “couple days”, said Boles. Boles said Lee had a travel issue that kept him out of action for a few days and has to be built back up.

Syracuse and Scranton match up again on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. with veteran Mike Montgomery starting for the Mets. We have the Syracuse roster breakdown for you here.