Lehigh Valley IronPigs vs Syracuse Mets

The Syracuse Mets pounded out 15 hits and launched four home runs to rout the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 11-1 on Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. Billy Amick smacked two home runs and drove in three, while rehabbing big-leaguers Mark Vientos and MJ Melendez each collected two hits and an RBI as Syracuse (65-62, 27-25 second half) ran its winning ways against its division rival.

The loss dropped Lehigh Valley (61-65, 26-25) below .500 on the season and marked the IronPigs' second defeat in this four-game series.

Syracuse jumped on IronPigs starter Drake Fellows immediately. RBI singles from Vientos and Melendez in the first inning put the visitors ahead 2-0. Ronny Mauricio doubled home a run in the third to stretch the lead to 3-0.

The Mets broke the game open in the fourth when catcher Shawn Ross crushed a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, making it 5-0.

Gabriel Rincones Jr. provided the lone highlight for Lehigh Valley, leading off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run — his second of the year — to cut the deficit to 5-1. It was his third hit of the night.

But the Mets answered immediately. Vientos led off the fifth with a solo homer of his own, and Amick followed with his first blast of the game two batters later, knocking Fellows (L, 5-3) out of the game. Fellows finished with 4.2 innings pitched, allowing seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits.

Amick struck again in the eighth, launching a two-run shot off Michael Mercado. Ross added an RBI double later in the frame, and an error in the ninth allowed an unearned run to cap the scoring at 11-1.

Fellows entered the fifth inning having already surrendered five runs, but the back-to-back homers by Vientos and Amick extinguished any hope of an IronPigs comeback. Rincones’s solo shot in the fourth had briefly given the home side momentum, but Fellows could not record a clean inning to keep his team within striking distance. The Mets sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth and effectively put the game out of reach.

Billy Amick (Syracuse) — Player of the Match. The infielder went 3-for-5 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored. His solo shot in the fifth and two-run blast in the eighth gave him his first career multi-homer game at Triple-A. His nine total bases led all hitters.

Shawn Ross (Syracuse) — Finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a two-run homer, a double and three RBI. Ross has quietly produced four home runs despite a .180 average in limited action (46 games).

Gabriel Rincones Jr. (Lehigh Valley) — The lone bright spot for the IronPigs, Rincones collected three of the team’s seven hits, including a solo home run. He has hit .296 since his promotion.

Tobias Myers (Syracuse) — Earned the win (2-1) with 2.1 innings of relief, allowing one run on one hit while striking out six of eight batters faced. He threw 23 of 26 pitches for strikes — an 88.5% strike rate.

Syracuse’s 15-hit, 11-run output came against six IronPigs pitchers. The Mets went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position, turning extended innings into crooked numbers. Lehigh Valley managed only seven hits and drew zero walks — a rare feat against a six-man pitching staff — while striking out 12 times.

The Syracuse bullpen was exceptional: Kevin Herget, Tobias Myers, Joe Jacques, Chris Devenski and Dylan Ross combined for 7.0 innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts and zero walks. Myers was particularly dominant, retiring all but one batter he faced.

The game lasted 2 hours 28 minutes — brisk by Triple-A standards — in front of 6,048 fans at Coca-Cola Park. The Mets committed no errors; the IronPigs made two, both on throws.

The Mets improved to 65-62 and continued to play strong baseball in the second half of the International League season. Syracuse sits in the middle of the IL East standings. For the IronPigs, the loss dropped them to 61-65, and with a negative run differential that has plagued them all season, every defeat makes a late playoff push steeper.

The two sides were scheduled to continue their series on Thursday 27 August, with Casey Lawrence scheduled to start for Lehigh Valley and Jack Wenninger for Syracuse. The IronPigs also had a cancellation on Thursday due to a postponement.

A clinical demolition. Syracuse’s offence fired on all cylinders from the first inning onward, and the Mets’ bullpen never gave Lehigh Valley a sniff of a comeback. Rincones’s three-hit night was a footnote in an otherwise one-sided affair. The quality gap between these two International League East rivals was stark on this evening.