Lehigh Valley outlasts Syracuse in 5-3 win

Box Score

Allentown, PA – The Syracuse Mets fell short for the second straight night at Coca-Cola Park, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on a comfortable Wednesday evening for baseball. The Mets have now lost two straight games to start this week’s series and 13 out of the 19 games the Mets have played against the IronPigs this season.

Each team traded a pair of runs via the long ball in the early goings. In the bottom of the first, Weston Wilson smashed a solo home run over the left-field fence to give Lehigh Valley (67-59, 31-22) an early 1-0 lead. It was Wilson’s 26th homer of the season.

In the top of the second, Syracuse (52-73, 19-32) bounced right back and knotted the game up at one when Brandon McIlwain went deep over the right-field fence, knotting the game, 1-1. McIlwain is in the midst of the best stretch of his young Triple-A career. The outfielder now has seven extra-base hits, including three home runs, in his last five games. McIlwain was called up to Syracuse from Double-A Binghamton earlier in August.

The game would continue to go back and forth early on as the IronPigs plated two runs in the bottom of the second to make it a 3-1 fame. After loading up the bases with nobody out, Simon Muzziotti plated one run on a fielder’s choice groundout, and Scott Kingery plated another run on a sacrifice fly.

That IronPigs lead didn’t last long with the Mets tying the game right back up in the top of the third in emphatic fashion. With Brett Baty on first base and one out, Daniel Palka smashed a booming two-run homer way beyond the right-field fence to tie the game up, 3-3, in flash. Palka’s mammoth blast traveled an estimated 458 feet off the bat. Palka returned to the Syracuse Mets on Tuesday, smacking two doubles in his return last night. The slugger led Syracuse with 26 home runs last season.

Lehigh Valley scored yet again in the bottom of the third to make it a 4-3 game and grab the lead once more. After Wilson singled to…