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The RailRiders had no hits through seven innings. They had no runs through eight.
They needed just one pitch to turn everything around on Thursday night.
Matt Pita sent the first pitch of the ninth inning over the fence to tie the game, and Thomas Milone improbably gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 3-1 win over Syracuse with a two-run homer later in the frame.
All night long, RailRiders hitters couldn’t solve Mets starter Josh Walker, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Walker actually faced the minimum 21 batters over the first seven innings.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had just two baserunners through seven courtesy of Andrew Velazquez walks in the first and fourth. Both times, Socrates Brito grounded into an inning-ending double play right afterward.
And when the RailRiders finally picked up a hit on Donny Sands’ one-out single in the eighth, they immediately hit into yet another double play to end the frame.
Amazingly, the game was still scoreless at that point. But not for long.
Drew Jackson led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and then stole second. With two outs, Albert Almora managed to poke a single into left to score the game’s first run.
Everything changed, though, when Walker didn’t come out for the ninth.
Reliever Geoff Hartlieb took over and was immediately taken deep to left by Pita, who now has four home runs in his two weeks since being called up.
That sparked the RailRiders (47-24), as Cristian Perez drew a one-out walk and then Milone matched Pita by also homering on the first pitch, with this one clearing the visiting bullpen in right.
A 3-1 lead was enough for Stephen Ridings, who rebounded from allowing the run in the eighth to set down the Mets in order in the ninth to earn his first career Triple-A win.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Brody Koerner pitched 6.1 shutout innings, scattering eight singles with five strikeouts and no walks.
The RailRiders have taken two of the first three games in the series against the Mets, which continues at 6:35 p.m. Friday.