By Tiffany Williams –
Jose De León struck out seven, and three relievers kept Syracuse off the board late, but the Worcester Red Sox bats went cold after the third inning in a 3-2 loss to the Mets on Tuesday night at NBT Bank Stadium. The defeat dropped Worcester to .500 on the season (69-69) and continued a slide that has seen the WooSox lose eight of their last 11 games since a four-game win streak ended on August 27.
The WooSox broke through first in the third when Corey Rosier legged out an infield single and raced home on Seby Zavala’s triple to right-center. Zavala, who hadn’t hit a triple since 2016 with Class-A Kannapolis, later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
But Syracuse quickly countered. Ryan Clifford went deep in the bottom of the frame, and an inning later Jett Williams belted a two-run homer to left that flipped the lead. That proved to be enough as Worcester never really threatened again.
After Zavala’s RBI knock, the WooSox had just one runner reach scoring position the rest of the night. Mikey Romero doubled in the eighth and Kristian Campbell walked, but reliever Austin Warren slammed the door with a three-pitch strikeout. Dylan Ross worked a clean ninth to lock down his third save.
Luis Moreno (2-1) earned the win for Syracuse in relief, allowing two runs across three innings. De León (0-8) was tagged with the loss despite fanning seven in five innings. Worcester will try to bounce back Wednesday with lefty Shane Drohan on the hill against Mets right-hander Jonathan Pintaro. First pitch is 6:35 p.m.