Syracuse Mets lose rain-shortened slugfest to Indianapolis

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets fell to the Indianapolis Indians, 12-9, in a rain-shortened, eight-inning game on Sunday afternoon at NBT Bank Stadium.

Jared Young hit two home runs in the loss for the Mets.

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After the Syracuse pitching staff tossed 20 consecutive scoreless innings over the last three nights, Indianapolis wasted no time to snap that stretch in the top of the first inning. The first two hitters of the game, Alika Williams and Nick Yorke, hit doubles to put the Indians in front, 1-0. Next, an RBI single by Rafael Flores and a two-run homer by Sammy Siani made it 4-0.

Syracuse responded with one run in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Jared Young doubled and Pablo Reyes ripped an RBI single, making it 4-1.

In the second, Indianapolis’ Tsung-Che Cheng singled, Mike Jarvis walked, and Williams hit a three-run homer to stretch the lead to 7-1. Later in the inning, Flores hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Indians an 8-1 advantage.

Syracuse added three runs in the second inning. After Joey Meneses walked and Luis De Los Santos singled, Matt O’Neill crushed a three-run home run, pulling the Mets closer, 8-4.

Indy added two more runs in the fourth with an RBI groundout by Nick Solak and an RBI single from Siani.

The Mets added a run in the bottom of the fourth on Joey Meneses’ solo home run, making it 10-5. That home run was Meneses’s third of the week.

In the fifth, Cheng singled, moved to second on a Mike Jarvis single, stole third, and came home to score on a throwing error by O’Neill, giving the Indians an 11-5 lead.

Indianapolis added one more run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Yorke, taking a 12-5 advantage.

Syracuse chipped away at the lead. In the bottom of the seventh, a pair of solo home runs by Jared Young and Luke Ritter made it 12-7.

In the eighth, the Mets inched closer when Jett Williams walked, stole second base, took third on an error, and scored on a wild pitch. Then with two outs, another solo homer by Young pulled the Mets within three, 12-9.

After rain poured down at the beginning of the ninth inning, the game was delayed for 30 minutes and eventually called as a completed game with Indianapolis (73-52, 31-20) winning, 12-9.

Syracuse (64-62, 33-18) begins a six-game series with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Tuesday night. First pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.