Baty scores twice as Syracuse Mets beat Buffalo, 7-1

The score of the box

Syracuse, New York – Brett Baty hit two homers for a total of 836 feet and Joey Lucchesi pitched five scoreless innings en route to a 7-1 victory for the Syracuse Mets over the Buffalo Bisons on Sunday afternoon at NBT Bank Stadium. With the victory, the Mets split the six-game series against the Bisons.

Syracuse (34-22) struck first in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Rhylan Thomas and Carlos Cortes both singled to put runners on first and second base. Yolmer Sanchez followed with a single to center field, scoring Thomas for a 1-0 lead. Cortes moved to third base on the hit and scored on a Joe Hudson RBI groundout for a 2-0 advantage.

In the third, the Mets used two powerful drives to extend the lead. First, Baty led off with a 416-foot home run to center field out of the batter’s eye to give Syracuse a 3-0 advantage. Two batters later, Luke Ritter crushed an opposite-field homer over the right-field wall to make it a 4-0 game.

Syracuse starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi was great. The left-hander pitched five scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and striking out a season-high six batters.

Buffalo (30-27) broke the shutout in the top of the eighth. With one out, Spencer Horwitz hit a solo homer to right field to cut Syracuse’s lead to three, 4-1. This is the second straight game in which Horwitz has homered, following his five-hit day on Saturday.

The Mets finished the game on a high note. In the eighth, Cortes powered a fly ball more than 400 feet to right field for a solo homer that took Syracuse’s four-run advantage back, 5-1. Later in the game, with two outs and Luisangel Acuña on first, Baty demolished a ball over the Salt City Deck in right field for a two-run home run that traveled 420 feet, giving the Mets a lead of 7-1.

After a day off on Monday, Syracuse begins a six-game road trip in St. Paul, Minnesota, against the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday. Right-hander Blade Tidwell is expected to start on the mound for the Mets. The first launch will be at 8:07 p.m. Eastern Time.