Box score
Moosic, PA – The Syracuse Mets dropped their second straight game away to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders with a 2-1 RailRiders win on Friday night. A one-off single was the knockout blow Friday, while a sacrifice fly gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a win in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader.
Syracuse (53-74) entered the top of the ninth tied, 1-1, with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (67-59). Daniel Palka led off the inning with a single to left field. Khalil Lee followed with a sharp grounder to left field, putting runners on first and second to start the ninth. Unfortunately, Syracuse’s next three hitters retired in order to keep the Mets from taking the lead. Syracuse finished the night 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base during the game.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre led off the bottom of the ninth with a single by Chad Bell. Chris Owings then came in to run for Bell. Blake Perkins followed with a sacrifice bunt that moved Owings to second base. Matt Pita scored for the second out of the frame, pulling Syracuse one extra point. Unfortunately, again for the Mets, left-hander Rob Brantly grounded a fly ball to the left side to the shortstop short of a changeup. Syracuse shortstop JT Riddle slowed the ball into shallow left field, but Owings scored from second base on the play to give the RailRiders a 2-1 win in the lone inning.
The score of the game started in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Perkins launched an opposite-field home run over the wall in left-center field to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead.
That was the only run surrendered by Syracuse pitcher José Butto. The 24-year-old right-hander had his best Triple-A performance with five and two-thirds innings of one run. Butto allowed just three hits with no walks, six strikeouts, and 98 career pitches, including 60 strikeouts. Most impressively, Bhutto retired the last 12 batters he faced.
RailRiders starting pitcher Matt Krook was even more dominant. The 27-year-old lefty pitched six and a third scoreless innings with four hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.
Syracuse’s lone run came on the first hit that came to the plate after Krook exited the game. With one out in the top of the seventh, Nick Dini came to bat, facing Scranton/Wilkes-Barre reliever Emmanuel Ramirez. Dini launched a fly ball over the left field wall that tied the game, 1-1, before the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre comeback.
The Mets and RailRiders will play the penultimate game of their six-game series on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m
