Syracuse Mets end week in Buffalo with 9-3 loss

The score of the box

Buffalo, New York –The Syracuse Mets are happy to be leaving Sahlen Field, which has been a veritable house of horrors this week. The Mets ended their six-game week one series against the Buffalo Bisons with a 9-3 loss Sunday afternoon. The Mets have lost five of the six games they have played in Buffalo this week.

Buffalo (48-53, 11-16) beat Syracuse (61-40, 15-12) starting pitcher Blade Tidwell in the bottom of the first inning, scoring twice on a two-run home run by Will Robertson that gave them a 2-0 lead. It was Robertson’s second home run in the last three games and his third straight game with a multi-base hit.

The Bisons’ hot hitting continued in the bottom of the second inning when Phil Clarke led off the inning with a double, then Luis De Los Santos brought him home with a two-run home run that sailed over the left-field wall an estimated 427 feet.

From there, Tidwell turned things around in his start. He ended up working six innings, allowing no runs after his first two innings of work. In fact, only one of the last 14 batters he faced reached against him. Tidwell finished with six strikeouts, all of them on strikes. Tidwell had struck out seven Bisons in his start against them last Tuesday — each of the strikeouts in that start were also on strikes. The six-inning start tied the longest career start at Triple-A for the talented right-hander from Tennessee.

On the other side, Aaron Sanchez had a curious start to the game. The Bisons’ starting pitcher was incredibly feisty, throwing just 44 strikes on 86 pitches while walking the Mets seven times. However, he was also incredibly efficient, allowing just one unearned run in five innings and just one hit. Sanchez combined his efficient feistiness with an ability to avoid a complete meltdown, as the Mets stranded six runners in five innings of work.

Buffalo added three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend the lead to six runs (7-1), but the Mets refused to give up.

In the top of the eighth inning, Syracuse led off the inning with a walk by Brett Baty and a home run by Pablo Reyes to cut the deficit to 7-3. That was immediately followed by a double by Jackie Bradley, Jr., capping off a multi-hit day. From there, however, the rally fizzled, as the Mets’ next three batters were struck out to keep the deficit at 7-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Buffalo extended its lead to six runs with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, then blanked the Mets in the top of the ninth inning to clinch the 9-3 victory.

The Bisons finish the season with a winning record against Syracuse, going 10-8 in 18 games. The story of the week for Buffalo was their remarkable turnaround at the plate. Buffalo entered the week with a .206 team batting average 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 middle of a two-week road trip that continues with six games at the Cleveland Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers, all next week. After an off day Monday, the series begins Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.