D’Andre Smith chased the ball into center field in the fifth inning, left his feet and kept Syracuse’s season from coming apart. Four innings later, he sent a ball soaring the other way and over the left-field wall, keeping that season alive.
Smith’s two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth gave the Mets a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs at NBT Bank Stadium. Syracuse’s fifth straight win kept it a half-game behind Rochester with one game remaining.
The Mets had fallen behind for the first time in the top of the ninth. Wuilfredo Antunez opened the inning with a single against Chayce McDermott, moved to third on Otto Kemp’s one-out single and scored when Keaton Anthony lifted a sacrifice fly to Smith in center.
That left Syracuse three outs from a loss that could have ended its postseason pursuit. Grant Holman struck out Hayden Senger to begin the bottom half, but Zack Short drew a walk. Smith, hitless in his first four at-bats, followed by driving a 1-1 pitch high toward left. Antunez retreated to the wall, but there was no play to make. Smith’s sixth homer brought Short home ahead of him and turned a one-run deficit into a 5-4 celebration.
The swing completed a night in which Syracuse’s center fielder had already delivered its most important defensive play. The Mets’ early three-run lead was dissolving in the fifth after Garrett Stratton was struck near the head by Luis Caicuto’s comebacker and had to leave without recording an out.
Ryan Lambert inherited Caicuto and surrendered singles to Antunez and Gabriel Rincones Jr., filling the bases. After striking out Kemp, Lambert walked Anthony to force in a run. Carter Kieboom followed with a liner into center that appeared capable of doing considerably more damage.
Smith charged hard, dove and caught it. Antunez scored the tying run on the sacrifice fly, but Smith’s play prevented the ball from reaching the outfield grass with three runners aboard. Lambert then retired Raider Tello to hold the game at 3-3.
That score remained untouched through the eighth as Syracuse’s bullpen held its ground. Matt Turner supplied two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and Zach Franklin worked around a leadoff walk in the eighth. McDermott allowed the ninth-inning run but earned the win when Smith ended it.
Syracuse had built its lead in the second against Casey Lawrence. Billy Amick doubled, Ryan Clifford walked and Senger reached on catcher interference, loading the bases for Short. The shortstop drove a 1-1 pitch into the right-center-field gap, where it dropped and rolled deep enough for all three runners to score.
Short finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and three RBIs. His ninth-inning walk gave Smith the chance to decide it.
Lehigh Valley began its comeback in the third when Antunez hammered the first pitch he saw from Ofreidy Gómez over the wall in right-center for his first Triple-A home run. Antunez finished 3-for-4 and scored three of the IronPigs’ four runs, including the tying run in the fifth and the go-ahead run in the ninth.
Dan Hammer opened Syracuse’s bullpen game with two scoreless innings and two strikeouts. The Mets ultimately used eight pitchers, collected eight hits and played errorless defense — none of it more consequential than Smith’s catch in the fifth.
His only hit came at the last possible moment. It was enough to send Syracuse into the final day still chasing Rochester, still riding a five-game winning streak and, most importantly, still playing for something.