On Saturday Afternoon, the 13-11 Syracuse Mets faced off against their fellow 13-11 host Worcester Red Sox at Polar Park. This was the fifth game of the current six-game series in Worcester, with the two sides splitting the first four games. On this chilly late April day, Syracuse sent Bryce Conley and his 5.40 ERA out to the mound, while the WooSox put recently promoted Isaac Coffey on the bump to make another one of his first starts in Triple-A Ball.
In the first two innings, both starters made it through scoreless, with Coffey retiring each Met batter he faced. In the third, things became extremely interesting in the Woo. It appeared as though Jackson Cluff had roped a lead-off triple for Syracuse that deflected off right-fielder Kristian Campbell’s fully outstretched glove, putting a man on 3rd with nobody out. However, in what certainly has to be a first, the Mets made an error on their lineup card: they switched the batting orders of Cluff and Ben Rortvedt, which resulted in an automatic out for Rortvedt! The best part for the Sox is that Cluff’s triple did not count, as he was forced to return to the plate and hit again with one out and nobody on. This time, he hit a routine flyout to Center. In the bottom half of the Third, Worcester loaded the bases with nobody out, but were unable to capitalize as Conley struck out Anthony Seigler and Allan Castro before forcing a groundout from Tsung-Che Cheng.
After previously leaving 7 runners on base in the first three innings, the WooSox finally broke through in the Fourth, courtesy of a Mickey Gasper RBI groundout. Despite this 1-0 lead, Worcester still stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning. Angel Bastardo continued the good pitching for the Sox after Coffey’s three scoreless innings, holding the Mets hitless for the fourth and the fifth…