Syracuse, NY — Standing two outs away from elimination, D’Andre Smith’s two-run walk-off home run kept the Syracuse Mets playoff chances alive. The Mets defeated the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 5-4, on Saturday at NBT Bank Stadium.
Syracuse (43-30, 81-67) jumped in front with three runs in the second inning. Billy Amick doubled and Ryan Clifford walked before Hayden Senger reached on catcher interference. Zack Short followed with a three-run double to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
Lehigh Valley (32-41, 67-81) cut into the deficit in the third on Wuilfredo Antunez’s solo home run, his first of the season. The IronPigs then tied the game with two runs in the fifth. Luis Caicuto, Antunez and Gabriel Rincones Jr. singled to load the bases before Keaton Anthony walked home a run. Carter Kieboom followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home Antunez and make it 3-3.
The score remained tied until the eighth. Raider Tello walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before the Mets recorded two strikeouts to escape the inning and keep the game tied.
Lehigh Valley took its first lead of the game in the ninth. Antunez singled and moved to third on Otto Kemp’s single before Anthony lifted a sacrifice fly to center to put the IronPigs ahead 4-3. The Mets were three outs away from the season coming to an end.
In the ninth, Zack Short drew a leadoff walk before Smith shut the lights off with a two-run home run to left field, his sixth of the season, giving the Mets the walk-off victory.
Smith's homer was the highlight of the night. Short went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in. Amick doubled and scored in the second, and Senger went 1-for-3. Bruján also doubled and scored a run.
In a bullpen game, Dan Hammer worked two innings and allowed no runs with two strikeouts. Ofreidy Gomez worked one inning and allowed one run. Matt Seelinger worked one inning with three strikeouts. Garrett Stratton only faced one batter, took a 100 mph line drive off the face, and exited with injury. Ryan Lambert gave up a run in an inning, Matt Turner and Zach Franklin each posted zeros in the seventh and eighth, and Chayce McDermott gave up one run in the ninth.
With the win, Syracuse is 0.5 games back of Rochester with one game to play. If Syracuse wins and Rochester loses, the Mets clinch the second half playoff spot in the International League second half.
The Mets close out their regular season against Lehigh Valley tomorrow at NBT Bank Stadium. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.