Brandon Sproat dominates as Syracuse beats Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 2-0, on Saturday night

Moosic, PA – Behind a gem of a start from Brandon Sproat, the Syracuse Mets outdueled the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, 2-0, on a sunny Saturday evening at PNC Field.

After a pair of scoreless frames, Syracuse (66-65, 35-21) opened the scoring in the top of the third inning in unlikely fashion. On the first pitch of the inning, Yonny Hernandez smacked a ball over the right-field fence for his first home run of the season, putting the Mets in front, 1-0. With the homer, Hernandez has now reached base in 30 consecutive games.

The one-run lead continued deep into the game thanks to an outstanding start by Brandon Sproat. The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings, allowed just three hits and two walks, and struck out nine batters. Over his last 11 games, Sproat has a 2.44 earned run average through 59 innings pitched.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (77-51, 39-17) had its best chance to score in the bottom of the eighth inning. After Duke Ellis, Jorbit Vivas, and Spencer Jones all walked, the bases were loaded for T.J. Rumfield with two outs. On an 0-2 pitch, Rumfield smoked a ball towards third base, but a leaping Luke Ritter snared the line drive, making a game-saving catch and stranding the bases loaded to end the inning.

In the ninth, Syracuse gave itself an insurance run when Luisangel Acuña doubled and came around to score on an RBI single by Ryan Clifford, extending the lead to 2-0.

The RailRiders made one last effort in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Jeimer Candelario singled, bringing the game-tying run to the plate with Braden Shewmake batting. On the first pitch, Richard Lovelady induced a groundball to the shortstop Acuña, who touched second base and made the throw to first in time, ending the game with a double play.

Syracuse ends its six-game series with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Left-hander Brandon Waddell is scheduled to pitch for the Mets with right-hander Erick Leal slated to go for the RailRiders. First pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.