Late Rally Not Enough as Hartford Walks Off SeaWolves in Ninth

HARTFORD, CT - Luke Shliger launched a two-run homer deep into the Hartford night to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning in his Double-A debut, but the Erie SeaWolves (27-14, 63-46) could not turn that momentum into a win as the Hartford Yard Goats (16-25, 55-54) picked up their tenth walk-off win of the season in a 4-3 contest on Wednesday night at Dunkin' Park.

Joe Miller made his first start for the SeaWolves since June 6 after spending two months on the injured list and posted three innings of one-run ball on three hits. Hartford plated a run against Miller in the third inning after GJ Hill scored on a Dyan Jorge bouncing ball over the head of the first baseman Andrew Jenkins to open the scoring.

The pitching staffs dominated the first five innings of the night as Konner Eaton delivered five scoreless innings for the Yard Goats to bounce back after a tough start last week against Binghamton. On the other side, Johan Simon posted two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts in relief of Miller.

The Yard Goats broke the stalemate in the bottom of the sixth against Trevin Michael. Andy Perez tripled in Jorge with no one out to extend the lead to 2-0. Michael battled with his control tonight, but wasn't fazed as he struck out three and stranded the bases loaded to keep the deficit to two.

Erie put the first two hitters on base in the seventh as Izaac Pacheco walked to lead off the inning and EJ Exposito followed with a single, but Carlos Torres changed the tide in short order by escaping the jam while striking out two in the inning.

Jorge and Perez teamed up again for Hartford in the seventh with a pair of two-out hits against SeaWolves reliever Wandisson Charles to push the Yard Goats' lead to 3-0.

Peyton Graham broke up the shutout in the eighth inning with his seventh home run of the year against Torres. The momentum from the homer wasn't enough in the eighth as Torres responded by punching out the next three hitters.

After a strikeout to start the ninth, Exposito smoked a single through the left side to set up Shliger's game-tying blast. Seth Stephenson was hit by a pitch following Shliger and stole a bag to reach scoring position, but Fidel Ulloa struck out back-to-back hitters to push the game to the bottom of the ninth.

GJ Hill started the bottom of the ninth with a double off the wall and Jared Thomas played the hero for Hartford with an RBI single to snap the Yard Goats' eight-game losing streak and even the series at one game apiece.

Carlos Peña starts for the SeaWolves in the third game of the six-game set against Hartford left-hander Stu Flesland III with first pitch on Thursday night set for 7:10 PM.

Single-game tickets, suites, picnics, The Club by Synchrony events, and Bud Light Party Deck groups are now available by visiting SeaWolves.com, calling 814-456-1300, or visiting the UPMC Park Box Office in person.