Syracuse drops series finale at Worcester after 15 strikeouts in loss

Syracuse had a starter worth building around and an offense that never gave him the margin. Jonah Tong struck out six in 4.2 innings Sunday afternoon at Polar Park, but the Syracuse Mets lost 6-2 to the Worcester Red Sox and finished the six-game set 2-4 after their lineup produced 15 strikeouts and not a single walk.

That combination told the story. Tong gave Syracuse a usable outing, but Worcester turned his mistakes into a three-run third inning and never let the game get loose. Matt Thaiss opened the frame by drawing a walk, Braiden Ward was hit by a pitch, and Nate Eaton followed by launching a three-run homer to left field. The early blast put Worcester in control and forced Syracuse to play catch-up with a lineup that could not string together enough traffic to do it.

The Mets did make it interesting in the fifth. Yonny Hernández singled, Ben Rortvedt followed with a hit, and Trace Willhoite ripped an RBI double to cut the deficit to 3-1. Nick Morabito later grounded out to bring home another run, trimming the margin to 3-2 and briefly keeping Syracuse within striking distance. But that was the last real pressure the Mets applied. They never drew a walk, and once the fifth inning ended, the game settled back into Worcester’s control.

Worcester answered in the sixth with a Thaiss RBI single, then padded the lead in the seventh on a Kristian Campbell sacrifice fly and a Vinny Capra RBI single. Tong was charged with three earned runs and took the loss, while Jonathan Pintaro, Mike Baumann and Anderson Severino handled the relief work behind him. The pitching line was respectable enough to keep Syracuse in the game; the bats did not hold up their end.

That is the part of this series finale that matters most. Tong’s six strikeouts in fewer than five innings were not empty flashes, either. He had already shown his swing-and-miss upside in the opener, when he struck out nine over 5 1/3 innings, and Syracuse had pounded out a 12-3 win behind Ronny Mauricio’s three-homer, five-RBI explosion. But the Mets could not sustain that level of contact or pressure across the week. Worcester won Saturday 9-2, took the finale, and finished the series on its own terms as both clubs moved to 15-11 and 13-13 respectively. For Syracuse, the missed opportunity was clear: enough pitching to stay close, not nearly enough offense to turn close into control.