Daniel Palka, Photo by James Farrance
The Syracuse Mets own the Worcester Red Sox. Dating back to August of last season, and including tonight, the Mets have taken 12 of 14 from the WooSox. And that’s quite the change from the way these matchups had gone previously; Worcester won 12 of 13 against Syracuse to begin last season. Syracuse’s recent dominance of this matchup continued tonight with a 13 to 3 win over Worcester, their fourth win over the WooSox in three days.
Just like the previous matchup between these two teams, a 10-8 slugfest that included six home runs, the long ball reigned supreme in this game. Again it was a barrage of blasts, with three key homers pacing the Syracuse offense. One to set the tone, one to fan the flames, and one to put things out of reach.
After starter Connor Grey surrendered a first-inning run, Carlos Cortes’ bottom-half grand slam into right field’s Salt City Deck off left-hander Kyle Hart keyed the Mets into an early lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. Cortes also mixed in an RBI double later in the game, giving him his first five runs batted in of the season after a frigid 4-for-39 start to his season prior to this game.
“He had a real good approach tonight,” Syracuse manager Kevin Boles said about Cortes. “He’s been pulling off the ball a bit recently but tonight I thought he was staying in there longer, especially against the lefty.”
A Yolmer Sanchez homer, the former White Sox Gold Glover’s fourth already, cut the Syracuse lead to two skinny runs after three innings. Syracuse commanded the game from there; it never got any closer. Daniel Palka made sure of that. Palka’s fifth inning two-run moonshot home run extended the Syracuse lead to five runs. It was Palka’s third homer in his last three games and helped follow up his own five-RBI performance last time out. Palka also mixed in three walks, raising his already-high OPS to 1.325
“[Palka] hits a lot of 2-irons out there. The ball takes off,” Boles said. “When he’s managing his strike zone, he’s a threat at any time.”
Syracuse tacked on four more in the bottom of the seventh inning to put things well out of reach for Worcester. The big hit came off the bat of Cody Bohanek; the Syracuse ninth-place hitter launched a three-run shot, first home run of the season and just second extra-base hit.
On the pitching side, Grey went the first four and two-thirds frames. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk along with four strikeouts. The 27-year-old righty sat around 91 miles per hour and flashed a decent mid-70s curveball. Behind him, the Mets bullpen was nearly spotless. Colin Holderman relieved Grey and struck out his lone batter, Red Sox’ top prospect Triston Casas, who he struck out with a gross back-foot slider.
After Holderman, R.J. Alvarez and Antonio Santos combined to finish the last four innings with no runs against their ledgers. Alvarez tossed a pair, striking out a pair and giving up two hits and a walk. Likewise, Santos also threw two scoreless frames, allowing two hits, one walk, and striking out two.
Holderman gets the win for Syracuse in relief. Kyle Hart started for Worcester and took the loss, going four and a third frames, allowing eight runs on four hits and five walks.
Mark Vientos went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. He drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Syracuse moves to 5-10 on the young season. Worcester goes to 9-7. The Mets look to remain hot against the WooSox on Saturday, again at 6:35.
