Goats' Hopes Dealt Near-Knock Out Blow By Fightins

Reading 5-9-0
Hartford 1-6-0
WP- Julian Garcia (2-1)
LP- Matt Whitehouse (4-4)
T- 2:42
A- 6,681

HARTFORD- The Hartford Yard Goats are all but out of the playoff chase, after falling to the first place Reading Fightin Phils, 5-1, Sunday, before a sellout crowd of 6,681 at Dunkin' Donuts Park. Reading (37-27) split the four-game series and reduced the Yard Goats elimination number to one. Hartford (31-32) now trails the Fightins by 5 ½ games with nine to play. The two clubs split the season series, 5-5.
It was the 47^th sellout of the season and 25^th straight for Hartford, which has one more sellout than last year. The Yard Goats lead the EL in attendance with 388,987. 
Reading never looked back, after taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning against lefty Matt Whitehouse. Luke Williams opened the game with a double to left-center and scored on Josh Stephen's single. Whitehouse's control undid him in the third, as he walked Stephen and Darick Hall, who scored on RBI-singles by Cornelius Randolph and Jose Gomez.
Meanwhile, Reading starter Julian Garcia baffled the Yard Goats hitters with an assortment of breaking pitches to compliment his sneaky, fastball. Hartford scored its only run in the third on a walk to Whitehouse, a passed ball and Vance Vizcaino's RBI-double to right. The Yard Goats managed just three base runners over the final five innings.
The Fightin Phils added single runs in the sixth and seventh on a sacrifice fly by Williams and Randolph's home run, his eighth of the season and second in two games. 
Whitehouse fell to 4-4 with the defeat, permitting three runs on five hits over four innings. He walked four and struck out four. Garcia improved to 2-1, working five innings of one-run ball. He allowed four hits, walked two and fanned five.
Tyler Nevin had two of Hartford's six hits. While Randolph's homer, single and two RBI topped Reading's nine-hit attack.
Hartford starts its final home series of the season, Monday at 7:05 p.m. against the Harrisburg Senators, the Western Division's first-half winner.  RHP Matt Dennis will pitch for the Yard Goats against RHP Tyler Mapes for Harrisburg.  The game will be broadcast on News Radio 1410 AM, on 100.9 FM, in Spanish on 1120 AM and on the internet on newsradio1410.iheart.com.  It will be First Responders Night and a 2020 Magnet Schedule giveaway.  The Washington Nationals' affiliate will also be in town for a twi-night doubleheader on Tuesday at 6:05 and single games Wednesday and Thursday at 7:05 p.m.