Yard Goats Blast Five Home Runs In Doubleheader Loss

*GM 1: Somerset 7, Hartford 6 *

WP-Barrett Loseke (1-1)

LP-David Hill (2-4)

T-2:12

A- 4,109

*GM 2: Somerset 5, Hartford 1 *

WP- Hayden Wesneski (7-4)

LP-Michael Baird (1-2)

T- 1:51

Bridgewater, NJ- The Somerset Patriots swept the Hartford Yard Goats in a doubleheader winning 7-6 and 5-1 on Saturday night at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The Yankees affiliate came from behind to win both games and extend its win streak to seven consecutive games. In game one, Chad Bell and Jesus Bastidas hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning in the 7-6 Somerset victory. Hayden Wesneski struck out 14 and hurled a complete game for the Patriots in a 5-1 win in the night-cap. Yard Goats catcher Max George hit two homers, and Michael Toglia, Jose Gomez and Sean Bouchard also went deep in the losing effort.

The Yard Goats scored the first run of the day on a couple of errors in the first inning of the first game. Both clubs had leads early, and Hartford batted back after trailing 4-2 on a pair of solo home runs from Michael Tolia and Max George off Somerset starter Randy Vazquez. After the Patriots took a 5-4 lead on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning the Yard Goats rallied in the sixth.

Catcher Max George cranked his second home run over the left field fence off reliever Barrett Loseke to tie the game in the sixth. Later in the inning, Jose Gomez belted a go-ahead solo shot over the center field wall, giving Hartford a 6-5 lead. However, the Patriots answered with two home runs in the bottom of the sixth against Yard Goats starter David Hill. Chad Bell tied the game with his fourth homer of the season, and Jesus Bastidas followed with a go-ahead homer, making it 7-6 Somerset.

In game two, Somerset starter Hayden Wesneski dominated with a season-high 14 strikeouts. Like in the earlier game, Hartford took a 1-0 lead as Sean Bouchard cracked a solo homer in the second inning. It would turn out to be the only hit for the Yard Goats. Somerset took a 2-1 lead on Oswald Peraza’s two-run homer in the third and never looked back. The Patriots added a run on Mickey Gasper’s RBI triple in the fourth and made it a 5-1 game on Oswaldo Cabrera’s two-run shot in the fifth. Wesneski struck out the side three times, and 11 of the final 12 outs after the third inning were strikeouts.

The Yard Goats conclude their final road trip of the season tomorrow afternoon (1:05 PM) against the New York Yankees affiliate, the Somerset Patriots. 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. The Yard Goats return home for their final homestand of the season next Tuesday, September 14th against the Red Sox affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs. Tickets are available by visiting the website, yardgoatsbaseball.com.