St. Paul, MN — The Syracuse Mets scored nine runs over the first two innings and cruised to a 10-4 victory over the St. Paul Saints Friday at CHS Field.
Syracuse (37-29, 75-66) opened the scoring in the first inning when Vidal Bruján hit a solo home run. After Ronny Mauricio walked, MJ Melendez launched a two-run homer to make it 3-0. Eric Wagaman and Billy Amick followed with a single and a double, before Jose Ramos and Hayden Senger delivered RBI singles to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Mets added four runs in the second inning. Melendez hit his second home run of the game, a three-run shot that made it 8-0, before Amick doubled and Ramos drove him in with a single.
St. Paul (36-31, 78-63) got on the board in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout from Tanner Schobel and added another run in the third on Aaron Sabato's solo home run. The Mets added their 10th run in the fourth when Ramos reached on a fielder's choice, allowing Melendez to score. St. Paul added another run in the sixth on a Cody Morissette RBI single and scored on a bases loaded walk in the ninth while trying to comeback.
Kevin Herget started for Syracuse and allowed two runs on five hits over three innings with one strikeout. Saul Garcia notched the win, shutting out the Saints across two innings with three strikeouts. Garrett Stratton worked the next two innings, allowing one run on four hits. Brian Metoyer recorded outs to the first four batters he faced, but issued three walks and a hit by pitch, bringing Jefry Yan into the contest to record the game-ending double play.
Melendez led the Mets with his first four-hit game as a Met, going 4-for-5 with two home runs and five runs batted in. Ramos went 2-for-4 with two RBI singles and a total of three RBIs. Amick added two doubles and two runs scored, going 2-for-5, and Bruján homered and scored twice.
With the win, the Mets sit in fourth place in the International League second half standings, 1.5 games back of Rochester and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, who are tied at the top, with eight games left in the regular season.
Syracuse continues its series with St. Paul on Saturday. First pitch is slated for 6:07 p.m. ET.