Syracuse, N.Y. – D’Andre Smith broke a scoreless tie with a two-run home run in the seventh inning, while five Syracuse pitchers combined to shutout the Worcester Red Sox, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon at NBT Bank Stadium.
Syracuse (26-24, 64-61) won five of six games in the series against Worcester (27-23, 63-58) and recorded its third shutout victory of the week.
The game remained scoreless through six innings. Worcester put runners at the corners with two outs in the fourth, but Xzavion Curry induced a foul popout from Kristian Campbell to escape the inning. The WooSox threatened again in the fifth, putting two aboard with two outs before Jack Weisenburger entered and retired Trevor Story on a groundout.
Syracuse finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh. Jose Ramos reached on a fielding error by shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa before Smith launched a two-run home run to left-center field, his second homer of the season, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.
The Syracuse pitching staff held that two-run advantage. Curry worked 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk while hitting a batter. Weisenburger followed with 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing no hits and striking out one. Zach Franklin recorded the final out of the eighth with a strikeout of Story, and Dylan Ross worked around a ninth-inning walk to finish the shutout.
Syracuse held Worcester to just two hits, both coming in the first four innings, and retired the WooSox without a hit over the final five frames.
The Mets are off Monday before opening a six-game series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.