Syracuse slugs NINE home runs in doubleheader split at Buffalo on Wednesday Buffalo, NY – The Syracuse Mets wowed the crowd at Sahlen Field on Wednesday night, smacking a sensational nine combined home runs while splitting a doubleheader against the Buffalo Bisons on a sunny evening. The Mets took game one, 9-4, before finishing off the doubleheader with a 6-4 loss in game two. Despite splitting the doubleheader, Syracuse continued its impressive stretch of play on Wednesday night and has won six out of its last nine games. Syracuse (34-46) got to its awe-inspiring power display right away in game one of the doubleheader, as both guys named Travis contributed to two early runs for the Mets. Travis Jankowski singled leading off the top of the first, and after Francisco Alvarez flied out, Travis Blankenhorn came to the plate and promptly pummeled a pitch over the right-center field wall for a home run to make it 2-0 Syracuse right out of the gate. Buffalo (42-38) briefly slimmed the deficit to 2-1 after a run in the bottom of the first, but the real fun was about to come. The Mets absolutely came unglued at the plate in the top of the second, smacking four home runs on their way to a commanding 7-1 lead. After Kramer Robertson was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Gosuke Katoh pounded an offering over the right-field wall to make it 4-1 in favor of the road team. It was the second home run in as many games for Katoh. And the Mets weren’t done. Deven Marrero and Jankowski stepped to the plate after that and both hit home runs, making it three straight home runs for the Mets and a 6-1 lead. It was the first time that Syracuse had hit three straight home runs in a game this season. After a brief reprieve for Buffalo on two straight outs, Mark Vientos put the cherry on top of the scoring sundae with an opposite-field home run to make it 7-1 and complete the inning’s scoring. Vientos now has fifteen home runs this season, tied for the team lead. To Buffalo’s credit, after being delivered a huge blow in the bottom of the second, the Bisons got off the mat and back into the ballgame in the bottom of the third. With two runners on base and two outs, Nick Podkul came to the plate and lofted a fly ball just past the outstretched glove of Nick Plummer and over the left-field fence. Podkul’s three-run homer slimmed the Bisons deficit to 7-4. In the top of the fourth, Syracuse put the game away for good via, you guessed it, the long ball. Blankenhorn and Khalil Lee each hit solo shots to make it 9-4 and all but clinch their sixth victory in their last eight games. Blankenhorn’s two-homer game was his second of the season. The Pennsylvania native also hit two home runs in a June 5th win at Worcester. Lee finished the first game of the doubleheader 2-for-4, adding a double to his home run to complete a multi-hit game. The seven-homer barrage for the Mets marked the most home runs hit in one game by Syracuse since the Mets hit seven homers on July 15, 2019 at Indianapolis in a 20-1 win. Syracuse finished Wednesday’s game one of the doubleheader with 12 hits, meaning more than half of its hits in the game were home runs. Thomas Szapucki earned the win in game one of the doubleheader, grinding his way through five innings of four-run ball with six strikeouts (all swinging). Yoan López closed the game out with two scoreless relief innings, allowing just one hit in the process. Game two of the doubleheader didn’t exactly start off like the first game, as each team just scored once in the first four innings. Buffalo scored first, plating a run in the bottom of the second when L.J. Talley reached base via a hit by pitch with one out and raced all the way home to score on an RBI double from Eric Stamets for a 1-0 Bisons edge. The Mets knotted the game back up at one in the top of the third by way of yet another home run, their eighth of the evening to that point. Kramer Robertson hit the blast this time, crushing a pitch beyond the center-field fence for his first home run as a member of the Syracuse Mets. The game remained tied at one into the top of the fifth when the Mets began to pull away. Syracuse scored twice in the frame, with three straight hits (a Robertson single, a Katoh double, and a Johneshwy Fargas single) plating the first run of the frame for a 2-1 advantage. Fargas stood at first after his RBI single and Katoh stood at third with nobody out, and after a Terrance Gore popout briefly quelled the threat, a Tzu-Wei Lin walk loaded the bases and made it a roaring threat again. Syracuse got another run across in the fifth on a wild pitch that scored Katoh. However, back-to-back strikeouts after that left two Mets runners in scoring position and kept the lead at 3-1. In the top of sixth, Nick Plummer smacked the astounding ninth home run of the evening for the Mets, a solo shot with one out that made it 4-1 in favor of Syracuse. After Robertson popped out, the Mets began to threaten again, putting Katoh on base via a walk and Fargas on first with a single that advanced Katoh all the way to third. Fargas promptly swiped second, putting two runners right back in scoring position with two outs. However, Gore struck out looking to strand another pair of runners in scoring position. Despite all the home runs, the Mets were ultimately haunted by missed opportunities on Wednesday night. Syracuse went just 1-for-13 in the doubleheader with runners in scoring position. Buffalo took advantage of the missed opportunities by Syracuse in the bottom of sixth, roaring ahead for good with five runs on three hits to take a 6-4 lead. The Mets helped the Bisons comeback cause in a big way in the sixth, as three walks plus a pivotal balk aided all the run scoring for the home team. Nick Podkul started the inning with a walk, followed by a Danny Jansen single that advanced Podkul to third. Cullen Large then lofted a sacrifice fly out to right field that scored Podkul, leaving Jansen at first with one out and trimming the deficit to two, 4-2. Michel Otañez then came out of the bullpen to seemingly lock down the victory, but the Bisons proved to have his number on this night. Chavez Young and Talley walked to load the bases with one out, followed by an infield single from Logan Warmoth that plated Jansen to make it 4-3 and kept the bases loaded with one out. A costly Otañez balk scored Young to tie the game, 4-4. Then, Stamets grounded a go-ahead, two-run double down the left-field line to score Talley and Warmoth to give the Bisons a 6-4 lead. Syracuse went down scoreless in the ninth to end a 6-4 loss to the Buffalo Bisons and a doubleheader split. The Bisons snapped a nine-game losing streak with the win in the second half of the twin bill. Syracuse returns to action on Thursday night in Buffalo, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Tim Adleman is slated to start for the Mets, opposed by right-hander Max Castillo for the Bisons.