Elehuris Montero Becomes First Yard Goats Player to Hit 20 Homers in Loss to Rumble Ponies 

*Binghamton 3, Hartford 1 *

WP- Andrew Edward (1-0)

LP- Nick Bush (0-3)

S-Alan Winans (3)

T-2:40

A- 6,850

Hartford, CT- Yard Goats infielder Elehuris Montero became the first Yard Goats player in franchise history to hit 20 home runs in a season but Hartford fell to Binghamton 3-1 on Friday night in front of a capacity crowd at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Harford. Montero’s league leading blast came in the first inning, and was the only run of the game until the Rumble Ponies scored three times in the ninth inning for the win. Yard Goats starter Nick Bush took a shutout into the ninth inning before getting reached for two runs. The lefty finished the game with a season-high seven strikeouts and retired nine in a row from the sixth through eighth innings.

The Yard Goats scored the first run of the game three batters into the contest as Elehuris Montero cranked his franchise record 20th homer into the left field seats. Rumble Ponies starter Adam Oller settled down retiring 11 in a row from the first through the fourth innings with seven strikeouts.

Yard Goats starter Nick Bush retired the first six Rumble Ponies before allowing a pair of hits in the third inning. Bush was solid and got help from his defense who recorded an out at the plate to end the fourth and fifth innings to hold the 1-0 lead. The lefty seemed to get stronger as the game went and retired the side in order in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. He finished with seven strikeouts.

The Rumble Ponies scored three runs in the ninth inning to take their first lead. Jake Mangum reached on an infield single and Carlos Rincon followed with a double. David Rodriguez then hit a shallow fly ball to right field but the throw by Manny Melendez got away from the catcher Willie MacIver and Mangum scored, tying the game at 1-1. Nate Griep then came in to pitch and walked Hayden Singer, and Luis Carpio followed with an RBI single, scoring Rincon for a 2-1 lead. Binghamton took a 3-1 lead on an error.

The Yard Goats continue their six-game series against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Saturday evening at 6:05 PM at Dunkin’ Donuts Park. Tickets are available by visiting the website, yardgoatsbaseball.com. The game will be broadcast on AM 1410 WPOP and FM 100.9 FM and newsradio1410.iheart.com and the video stream available on MiLB.TV.