Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets are one of the hottest teams in professional baseball right now. They beat the Iowa Cubs yet again on Sunday afternoon, topping the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs by a 5-3 final on a warm and sunny day at NBT Bank Stadium. The Mets took five out of the six games that they played against the Cubs this week, have won 10 out of their last 12 games overall and remain just two games back of first place. They play seven games at the team in first place, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, next week.
Syracuse (27-16) had the rehabbing David Peterson on the mound to start Sunday’s game, and Iowa (20-25) got to him in the top of the first. An RBI double from Alexander Canario scored BJ Murray, Jr. and made it a 1-0 game, but that would be all the Cubs would get against Peterson in his start. The lefthander allowed just the one earned run on five hits in five and two-thirds innings, walking one and striking out five. Peterson had made four prior Minor League rehab starts as he attempts to work his way back to the Major League level. The former Oregon Duck had offseason back surgery that pushed back his start to the 2024 season.
While Peterson starred on the mound, the Mets’ offense began to hum yet again. They took the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the second, highlighted by a three-run, two-out double from Rylan Bannon. The versatile Bannon had also homered in Saturday night’s win. In the bottom of the third, it was once again Trayce Thompson’s time to star. The outfielder slugged yet another home run, his sixth of the week and fifth of the weekend. Thompson now leads the Mets with 13 home runs in the first 47 games of the season.
It remained a 5-1 game all the way until the top of the ninth, as the Mets bullpen continued to do excellent work. Matt Festa (who made his Syracuse debut this season on Sunday) and Tyler Jay worked a combined two and one-thirds scoreless innings after Peterson to keep it a 5-1 game into the top of the ninth. From there, it got interesting. To start the top of the ninth, Brennen Davis and David Bote drew back-to-back walks to put two runners on base with nobody out. A pop out and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with one out, followed by an RBI groundout from Hayden Cantrelle that made it a 5-2 game but also produced the second out of the inning. That was immediately followed by two walks and a dropped third strike that made it a 5-3 game and kept the bases loaded with two outs. From there, the Iowa comeback attempt fizzled out. A groundout ended the game, handed the Mets a fifth win against the Cubs in six games this week and pushed the Syracuse record to a season-high 11 games above .500. The Mets are also 14-7 at home at NBT Bank Stadium this season.
Syracuse now hits the road next week for a pivotal series at the first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The first game of the weeklong, six-game series is set for 6:05 on Tuesday evening.
