The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, bounced back from an Easter Sunday loss with a 6-5 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees on a blustery Monday night at Alliance Bank Stadium.
After picking up just one hit yesterday, the Chiefs (2-3) batted around in the first inning against Yankees (1-4) starter Adam Warren early and often. Corey Brown led off the bottom of the first with a walk, Seth Bynum singled through the left side of the infield, and Xavier Paul followed with a walk to load the bases. After that, Tyler Moore pounded a fly ball to deep right-center, bringing home Brown on a sacrifice fly.
Bryce Harper kept things going in the bottom of the first by mashing a line drive single to right field, scoring Bynum for his first Triple-A RBI. Jhonatan Solano picked up Syracuse’s third walk of the inning to load the bases again, before Mark Teahen singled to right to knock Paul in with the Chief’s third run. Warren escaped further damage by inducing back-to-back fly outs.
Syracuse got right back to it in the bottom of the second. Brown blasted the first pitch of the frame off of the 401-marker in deep right-center for a leadoff triple. He scored two pitches later on a passed ball. After an out, Paul roped a single to right to set the table for Moore. The Chiefs first baseman, who hit a combined 62 home runs the past two seasons, obliterated the first pitch he saw from Warren for a deep home run to left-center, his first in Triple-A.
Warren’s day was done after just three innings. The Chiefs tagged the Yankees starter for six runs on seven hits.
Meanwhile, Chiefs starter Zach Duke coasted through his Syracuse debut. The lone blemish on his otherwise scoreless six innings was a fourth inning solo home run by Dewayne Wise. Duke scattered four hits and four strikeouts over those six frames, all while throwing just 71 pitches.
The Yankees pushed back in the seventh inning, benefitting from three Chiefs errors and three hits off reliever Atahualpa Severino, to score three runs and close the Syracuse lead to just 6-4. Colin Curtis, Brandon Laird, and Ramiro Pena drove in runs for the Yankees.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre threatened again in the eighth. After Severino retired Steve Pearce on a fly out to left, Jack Cust walked and Wise picked up his third hit of the night on a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line. Following the bunt, Severino gave way to righty reliever Josh Wilkie. Wilkie induced Laird to sky out to left, but walked Curtis to load the bases. With the tying run at second, Wilkie survived the jam, forcing Kevin Russo to bounce out to second to end the inning.
After a scoreless bottom of the eighth, Syracuse manager Tony Beasley gave the ball to Ryan Perry. Pena greeted Perry with a leadoff double over the head of Harper in center. Pena came in on a single from Francisco Cervelli, but as Cervelli rounded first on his single Harper gunned him down for the second out with a throw from center field.
The Yankees had one more threat in them. Pearce singled and reached second on an error by left fielder Corey Brown, but Perry picked up the save by punching out Jack Cust with a fastball over the outside corner to preserve the win.
The Chiefs and Yankees wrap up a four-game series Tuesday at 6:00 PM at Alliance Bank Stadium. Right handed pitcher Mitch Atkins will take the ball for his second start of the season for Syracuse. Righty Ramon Ortiz is scheduled to make his first start for the Yankees.
Courtesy: Syracuse Chiefs
