Syracuse blanks WooSox 3-0, Worcester managed just two hits

Syracuse turned Polar Park into a pitching clinic Friday night, blanking Worcester 3-0 and holding the WooSox to only two hits in a game that never let the home offense breathe. The Mets stacked command, sequencing and sharp defense to stay in control from the third inning on, while Worcester managed to scratch out nothing until Anthony Seigler broke the no-hit bid with a single to center in the eighth.

The decisive damage came in the third against Michael Sansone, who made his Polar Park debut and settled into his second Triple-A start after flashing promise in Nashville. Syracuse opened the inning with a hit by pitch, then used a double, an RBI single from Jiwan Bae, a sacrifice fly and an RBI infield single from Christian Arroyo to build a 3-0 lead before Worcester could stop the momentum. Sansone finished with 4.1 innings, five hits, three earned runs, two walks and four strikeouts, and the WooSox never put enough traffic together to threaten a comeback.

Worcester’s night at the plate was brief and frustrating. The club went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, left four on base and spent most of the game chasing a deficit that had already hardened by the middle innings. Mikey Romero added the second hit by leading off the ninth, but by then Syracuse’s bullpen had already taken over and preserved the shutout. Jose Chirinos and four relievers combined to scatter the two hits, and the Mets backed them with a clean defensive game that included one double play and no errors.

The crowd of 7,836 watched it unfold in 2 hours and 16 minutes under clear 58-degree skies with a 7 mph wind blowing left to right. The result moved Syracuse to 13-12 and left Worcester at 13-11, a swing that mattered in an International League East race that has already flipped several times in this six-game set. Syracuse had opened the series with a 12-3 win, Worcester answered with a walk-off victory and then a 10-4 outburst, and the back-and-forth nature of the matchup made Friday’s shutout feel like a sharp reminder of how quickly momentum can vanish when a quality Triple-A staff executes every pitch.

It also fit a larger pattern at Polar Park. Syracuse starter Jonah Tong held Worcester to one hit in the clubs’ March 27 opener, and the WooSox later won 5-3 on March 28 before dropping a 10-8 game the next night. On this night, though, the story was simple: Syracuse found the zone early, Worcester never found a rhythm, and a lineup that had scored 10 runs the previous day was left staring at a much smaller offensive ceiling.