Hamel Dominates as Moylan and Arias Stay Hot in Win Over Akron
The Somerset Patriots beat the Akron RubberDucks 3-1 at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ on Friday night. The Patriots improved to a second half-best five games over .500 (30-25) and season-best 10 games over .500 (67-57). Somerset finds itself within 2.0 games of first-place Reading in the Northeast Division
The Somerset Patriots beat the Akron RubberDucks 3-1 at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ on Friday night.
The Patriots improved to a second half-best five games over .500 (30-25) and season-best 10 games over .500 (67-57). Somerset finds itself within 2.0 games of first-place Reading in the Northeast Division with 14 games remaining in the second half.
The win moved the Patriots to 5-5 against the RubberDucks this season, including a 3-1 record at TD Bank Ballpark.
Tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Josh Moylan and Cole Gabrielson smoked back-to-back homers. The back-to-back homers marked Somerset’s fourth instance of back-to-back home runs this season and first since DJ Gladney and Coby Morales did so in the first inning on August 11 vs. New Hampshire. The back-to-back homers marked Somerset’s 14th multi-home run inning this season and second consecutive game with a multi-homer inning after Josh Moylan and Roderick Arias homered in the fourth inning on Thursday.
Paired with Roderick Arias’ first inning homer, the Patriots notched their 21st three-HR game this season (15-6) and 53rd multi-home run game this season (38-15). Somerset’s 53 multi-HR games are the most since the Patriots’ franchise-record 55 multi-HR games in 2023. Somerset’s 175 home runs this season are tied for first in Double-A and are tied for seventh in MiLB at the time of the game’s conclusion.
Somerset’s pitching staff combined for 16 strikeouts, marking the fourth consecutive game and fifth time in the last six contests the Patriots have punched out double-digit batters. Somerset’s .269 K% this season ranks fourth in Double-A and is tied for eighth in MiLB at the time of the game’s conclusion.
He goes by DOMinance Hamel 😤
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 29, 2026
6.0 IP | 3 H | 1 R | 0 BB | 10 K pic.twitter.com/z4DWmagYI0
RHP Dom Hamel (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 K) notched a season-high 10 strikeouts in a season-high tying 6.0 IP across all levels this season. Hamel’s 10 strikeouts were his most since fanning 10 batters vs. Worcester on April 11, 2024. The 10 punchouts marked his sixth outing of his MiLB career with double-digit strikeouts. Hamel joined Xavier Rivas, Trent Sellers and Kyle Carr as the fourth Patriot to tally 10 strikeouts in a game this season. Hamel’s 10 K outing was the first by a Patriot since Rivas’ 10 K on July 12 vs. Reading. Hamel earned his second quality start across all levels this season and first since June 13 vs. Lehigh Valley.
RHP Kevin Stevens (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K) picked up his second save of the season with Somerset. Stevens recorded his fourth consecutive scoreless outing and ninth in his last 10 appearances. Across his last 10 outings, he’s posted a 0.87 ERA, 0.48 WHIP and .111 BAA with 17 K to 1 BB in 10.1 IP.
Roderick Arias has 3⃣ homers in his last 4⃣ games! 🤯
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 28, 2026
Arias extends his career-high to 16 home runs across all levels this season! pic.twitter.com/bz05JMgojm
2B Roderick Arias (1-for-3, HR, RBI, R, BB, SB) blasted his fourth homer at Double-A and career-high 16th across all levels in the fourth inning. Arias has homered in back-to-back games for the first time at Double-A and first time since June 26 and June 28 at Bowling Green. Arias has homered in three of his last four games, recording 4 RBI, 3 BB and 6 R in that span. Arias’ 16 homers and 78 RBI this season surpass his previous career-highs of 13 home runs and 74 RBI with Tampa in 2024. In 22 games with Somerset, Arias has registered 24 hits and is slashing .276/.344/.517 with 4 HR, 17 RBI and 12 XBH. Arias has scored a run in a season-high and career-high tying 10 straight games dating back to August 18. It’s the first time Arias has scored a run in 10 straight games since June 16, 2023 to July 3, 2023.
3B Coby Morales (1-for-3, BB) extended his on-base streak to a career-high 22 games with a walk and a single. During Morales’ 22-game on-base streak, he’s slashing .320/.469/.467 with 2 HR, 6 RBI and 5 XBH.
Josh Moylan SMASHES his @Yankees farm system leading 25th home run of the season! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/PKBBE7ryoO
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 29, 2026
1B Josh Moylan (2-for-3, HR, RBI, R) clubbed his 12th homer with Somerset and 25th across all levels this season in the fourth inning. With homers in back-to-back games and four homers in his last seven games, Moylan’s 25 home runs lead all Yankees minor leaguers. Moylan’s career-high 25 homers in 108 games across all levels this season surpass his 17 home runs in his first 239 career games from 2023 to 2025. Across his last seven games, Moylan is 8-for-26 (.308/.357/.769) with 4 HR, 8 RBI and two multi-hit games.
BACK-TO-BACK HOME RUNS! 🥳
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 29, 2026
Cole Gabrielson BELTS his FIFTH homer across all levels this season! pic.twitter.com/nviTFOgScC
LF Cole Gabrielson (1-for-2, HR, RBI, BB) belted his fourth home run with Somerset and fifth across all levels this season in the seventh inning. Gabrielson extended his hit streak to four games. In that stretch, he’s 5-for-14 (.357 AVG) with a HR, 3 RBI and 2 BB.
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