Carlos Lagrange pitched four scoreless innings of relief to earn his first Triple-A victory as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders defeated the Syracuse Mets, 6-3, in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at NBT Bank Stadium in New York.
Syracuse came back to win the second game, 13-2, and salvage a split.
Several reports Tuesday said the New York Yankees planned to move Lagrange, the hard-throwing righthander who is the organization’s No. 4 prospect, to the bullpen.
He came on in relief in the second inning Wednesday after opener Rafael Montero threw a scoreless first inning with one hit and two strikeouts. Lagrange (1-3) allowed one hit — a single to Yonny Hernandez with one out in the fourth — walked two, struck out seven and hit one batter. He threw 62 pitches, 36 for strikes.
In the top of the third inning, the RailRiders gave him offensive support by scoring three times. With one out, Duke Ellis singled and George Lombard Jr. was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch by Syracuse starter Kodai Senga, on a MLB rehab assignment, advanced the runners to third and second, respectively. Spencer Jones followed with a RBI single to score Ellis and send Lombard to third, from where he scored on a sacrifice fly by Oswaldo Cabrera. Tyler Hardman followed with a single, moving Jones to second. Seth Brown then singled to score Jones and make it 3-0.
It stayed that way until the top of the seventh when the RailRiders had another three-run rally on four consecutive two-out hits. Hardman and Brown hit back-to-back home runs. Ali Sanchez singled and scored on an Ernesto Martinez Jr. double.
Those runs were needed since Syracuse spoiled the shutout bid with three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Bradley Hanner relieved Lagrange and pitched a scoreless sixth with one walk and one strikeout. But Peter Strzelecki came on in the seventh and he gave up a two-run home run to Ben Rortvedt and RBI single to Nick Morabito. Yerry De Los Santos replaced Strzelecki and threw one pitch to Christian Arroyo to get the final out.
Zach Messinger started Game 2 for the RailRiders and allowed a run in the top of the first. Morabito led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch, stole third and when the throw sailed into the outfield, Morabito scored. It was the first run Messinger gave up since April 23 — a span of nine appearances and 18.2 innings.
Syracuse extended its lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the third against reliever Eric Reyzelman. Arroyo had a two-run double, Andy Ibanez a RBI single and Ryan Clifford scored on the back end of a double steal.
Jonathan Ornelas homered with two outs in the top of the fourth to cut the RailRiders’ deficit to 5-1. Then in the top of the eighth, Cabrera led off with a double, stole third with two outs and scored on a throwing error from the catcher to make it 5-2.
But the Mets erupted for eight runs in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Danny Watson and position player Edinson Duran. Arroyo had a two-run single. Ji Hwan Bae scored on a wild pitch. Ibanez had a sacrifice fly. Kevin Parada had a three-run double and scored on a single by Matt Rudick.
On Thursday at 6:35 p.m., the series continues with the RailRiders (30-28) sending righthander and No. 2 prospect Elmer Rodriguez (1-3, 2.91) to the mound against Syracuse righty Xzavion Curry (0-0, 6.16).