Capel Cranks Three Homers & Drives in Six Leading Yard Goats to Win

Capel Cranks Three Homers & Drives in Six Leading Yard Goats to Win

Reading, PA- Conner Capel smashed three home runs, and had 6 RBI leading the Yard Goats to a 10-2 victory against the Reading Fightin Phils on Wednesday night at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading, Pennsylvania. The win lowered Hartford’s magic number to 3 with four games remaining in the first half which ends Sunday. Capel tied a franchise record for home runs and RBI in a single game while helping Hartford to its fifth win in six games and 10^th win in 12 contests.Capel is just the third ever Yard Goats player to hit three homers in a game joining Drew Romo (2X) and Willie MacIver and first to it since the 2023 season. Yard Goats pitchers Jack Mahoney, Fidel Ulloa, Austin Smith and Cade Denton held the Fightins to just two runs. Braylen Wimmer extended his hit-streak to 14 games with an RBI single in the third inning. The Yard Goats are trying to reach the playoffs for the second time in three years.

The Yard Goats took a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Conner Capel and Bryant Betancourt connected on back-to-back home runs off Reading starter Braydon Tucker. It was the first time the Yard Goats hit consecutive home runs since August 9, 2024 (Zach Kokoska/Braxton Fulford in Richmond).

Hartford added a run in the third inning as Braylen Wimmer cracked and RBI single to right field, scoring Roc Riggio from second base to make it 3-0. That hit extended Wimmer’s hit streak to a team-high 14 straight games.

The Fightins got a run in the fourth inning off Yard Goats starter Jack Mahoney, who was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week on Monday. MiLB veteran Luke Ritter singled home Aroon Escobar to make it a 3-1 game. Reading made it 3-2 with a run in the fifth inning as Escobar singled in Jordan Dissin.

However, the Yard Goats scored four runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a two-run homer by Conner Capel and an RBI double by Cole Messina. Hartford scored four times on four hits to take a 7-2 lead. Capel smashed a three-run homer in the ninth inning to make it a 10-2 game.

Capel became the second Yard Goats player to drive in six runs in a game this season joining Roc Riggio (April 22 @ Portland). It is the seventh time in franchise history that a player has tied a franchise record with a 6-RBI game.

The Yard Goats continue their final series of the first half on Thursday night (7:00 PM) at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading, PA. Jackson Cox will start for the Yard Goats and Gage Wood will start for the Fightins. The game will be broadcast on Newstalk 1080 WTIC, the free Audacy App, iHeartRadio app, Yard Goats website and streamed on MiLB.TV.