New York Mets Minor League Report: Walk-Off HR Means Syracuse Will Play For A Title In Regular Season Finale

[Tom Gatto]

The race will go down to the final day, thanks to a dramatic finish Saturday night. Syracuse was two outs from elimination in the race for the International League’s second-half championship when D’Andre Smith clubbed a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Lehigh Valley 5-4. The win kept the Mets half a game behind first-place Rochester with only Sunday’s games remaining.

The Red Wings would have clinched the title with a Syracuse loss. They beat Buffalo 7-3 on Saturday afternoon and then followed along as Indianapolis, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Worcester took themselves out of contention with losses and made it a two-team race.

Here’s how the remaining clubs stand entering play Sunday:

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB
Rochester	44	30	.595	--
SYRACUSE	43	30	.589	0.5

The Mets will be able to scoreboard-watch from the clubhouse and dugout to start Sunday. First pitch of Rochester at Buffalo is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. ET. The Mets and IronPigs will start at 1:05 p.m. ET in Syracuse.

The second-half champion will face first-half winner Memphis in the best-of-three IL Championship Series beginning Tuesday night in Memphis. If the Mets are the opponent, they will be competing for the city’s ninth IL playoff crown and its first in half a century. The then-Chiefs won it all in 1976 as the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. That club was managed by Hall of Famer Bobby Cox and included a 25-year-old left-handed reliever named Ron Guidry.

Smith Keeps The Dream Alive

The Mets fell behind 4-3 in the top of the ninth on a Lehigh Valley sacrifice fly. Hayden Senger struck out to lead off the bottom half. Zack Short walked, and Smith followed with his sixth Triple-A homer, a 375-foot drive to left.

WE DIDN'T HEAR NO BELL!!! pic.twitter.com/Au4XyaILFP

— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) September 20, 2026

The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the second on Short’s bases-loaded double. Billy Amick led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a fly out by Jose Ramos. Ryan Clifford walked and Senger reached on catcher’s interference to load the bases. Short then drove a ball to the gap in right-center to clear the bases.

Lehigh Valley answered with a solo home run in the third and pulled even at 3-3 in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.

Dan Hammer started another bullpen game for the Mets and allowed one hit over two scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Eight Mets pitchers in all took the mound. The last one, Chayce McDermott, was credited with the win after allowing the go-ahead run in the ninth.

Short had two of the Mets’ eight hits.

Syracuse Batting

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
D'Andre Smith	5	1	1	2	0	0
Jefferson Rojas	4	0	0	0	0	2
MJ Melendez	4	0	1	0	0	1
Vidal Bruján	3	0	1	0	0	0
Billy Amick	4	1	1	0	0	3
Jose Ramos	3	0	1	0	1	0
Ryan Clifford	2	1	0	0	1	0
Eric Wagaman	1	0	0	0	0	1
Hayden Senger	3	1	1	0	0	1
Zack Short	3	1	2	3	1	0

Syracuse Pitching

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Dan Hammer	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
Ofreidy Gómez	1	1	1	1	0	0	1
Matt Seelinger (H, 3)	1	1	0	0	0	3	0
Garrett Stratton	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
Ryan Lambert (BS, 3)	1	2	1	1	1	1	0
Matt Turner	2	1	0	0	1	2	0
Zach Franklin	1	0	0	0	1	2	0
Chayce McDermott (W, 3-1)	1	3	1	1	0	1	0

New York Mets Transactions

• New York Mets activated LHP Cionel Pérez from the 15-day injured list.
• New York Mets optioned RHP Cameron Weston to Syracuse Mets.

Top-20 Prospect Performance

1. Jonah Tong: MLB
2. Jack Wenninger: DNP
3. Elian Pena: DNP
4. Mitch Voit: DNP
5. Ryan Clifford: 0-for-2, BB
6. Nick Morabito: MLB
7. Jonathan Santucci: DNP
8. Carson Wiggins: DNP
9. Jacob Reimer: DNP
10. Aiden Robbins: DNP
11. Randy Guzman: DNP
12. Wandy Asigen: DNP
13. Chris Suero: DNP
14. Jefferson Rojas: 0-for-4, 2 K
15. Will Watson: DNP
16. Shane Sdao: DNP
17. Eli Serrano III: DNP
18. Antonio Jimenez: DNP
19. Emilien Pitre: DNP
20. Dylan Ross: DNP

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