St. Paul, MN — Using eight pitchers and scoring nine runs, the Syracuse Mets defeated the St. Paul Saints, 9-7, on Saturday at CHS Field.
Syracuse (38-27, 76-66) opened the scoring with three runs in the first inning. Ronny Mauricio drove in D’Andre Smith with a single before MJ Melendez grounded out to score Émilien Pitre. Vidal Bruján followed with an RBI single to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
St. Paul (36-32, 78-64) responded with two runs in the first. A throwing error from Kevin Parada brought in the first run and a second run scored on an RBI groundout to make it 3-2 Syracuse in the first.
The Mets added two more runs in the second. Smith doubled and scored on a Pitre single before Mauricio followed with another RBI single to make it 5-2. The Saints responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Tanner Schobel grounded out to score Ben Ross, making it 5-3.
Syracuse extended its lead to 7-3 in the third when Billy Amick hit a two-run home run, but St. Paul answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning on a Tanner Schobel double to cut the deficit to one.
The Saints tied the game in the fourth on a solo home run from Kala’i Rosario. Melendez put Syracuse back in front in the seventh with a solo homer. Melendez recorded his second homer of the night to lock in an insurance run and give the Mets a 9-7 lead in the ninth.
Syracuse pitching held St. Paul scoreless over the final five innings to preserve the two-run victory. The Saints put runners on base in the eighth and ninth, but the Mets escaped both innings without allowing another run.
The Mets used eight pitchers in the bullpen day victory. Dylan Ross earned the win, working one scoreless inning with one hit, one walk, and one strikeout in five batters faced. Jefry Yan tossed a one-pitch save in the ninth.
Melendez went 2-for-5 with two home runs and five runs batted in. Mauricio went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Pitre added two hits and an RBI, Bruján paced the Mets with three hits and an RBI, and Amick homered for the seventh time as a Syracuse Met.
With the win, Syracuse is 1.5 games back of Rochester for the International League second half standings with seven games left in the regular season.
Syracuse wraps up its series in St. Paul with a 2:07 p.m. ET first pitch on Sunday. Right-hander Justin Hagenman is slated to start in a third-straight bullpen day for the Mets.