Mets bullpen leads Syracuse to 5-3 victory over Lehigh Valley on Wednesday night Syracuse, NY – Led by five hitless and shutout innings from the bullpen, the Syracuse Mets beat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Wednesday night, 5-3, at NBT Bank Stadium to knot up the six-game series at one game apiece. The Mets scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning to propel themselves to the win. For the second straight night, Lehigh Valley (14-12) scored the game’s opening run. In the top of the third inning, the IronPigs pushed a run across home plate with two outs. First, Bryson Stott smacked a single into right field and then stole second base. A walk to Donny Sands extended the inning, followed by a Darick Hall single that plated Stott and pushed Lehigh Valley to an early 1-0 lead. Hall has now driven in 31 runs in the first 26 games of the season. Undeterred by the IronPigs’ early offense, Syracuse (9-16) rebounded in a big way in the bottom of the third inning. Nick Meyer led off with a walk, and Cody Bohanek singled, putting runners at first and third. Wyatt Young followed with a single that scored Meyer to tie the game up, 1-1. Nick Plummer followed with a line-drive single, scoring Bohanek to give the Mets a 2-1 edge. Young and Plummer. After Daniel Palka walked to load the bases, Travis Blankenhorn knocked in Young on a groundout into a fielder’s choice to make it a 3-1 ballgame, and Mazeika brought home Plummer with another groundout into a fielder’s choice as the Mets took a three-run advantage, 4-1. The IronPigs immediately bounced back with a pair of two-out runs in the fourth inning. After Jorge Bonifacio was hit by a pitch, Austin Wynns lined a shot over the wall in left-center field wall for a two-run home run that sliced the Syracuse lead to two, 4-3. The homer marked the first extra-base hit of the season for Wynns. Seeking a bit of breathing room, the Mets found it with another run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Once again, the action came with two outs. First, Blankenhorn doubled into the right-field corner. Then, he pranced home on an RBI single from Mazeika. Lefties did the damage at the plate for Syracuse on Wednesday night. The first seven batters in the Mets lineup were left-handed hitters, and they had seven of Syracuse’s eight hits in the game. From there, the Mets bullpen took its turn in the spotlight. R.J. Alvarez, Alex Claudio and Colin Holderman combined to toss five scoreless and hitless frames to secure a Syracuse victory. The relievers fanned seven batters in their clean innings, allowing just three baserunners (all by way of walk) in the process. Nine of the final ten IronPigs batters were retired in order to make Syracuse’s victory relatively stress-free down the stretch. Wynns did draw a two-out walk to bring the tying run to the plate for Lehigh Valley in the top of the ninth, but Dalton Guthrie promptly grounded out to end the game and put a ninth win in the column this season for the Mets. Syracuse is back at NBT Bank Stadium on Thursday night, continuing its series with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Right-hander Connor Grey is slated to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Michael Mariot for the IronPigs. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.