Hardman And Beeter Shine In Patriots Win
The Somerset Patriots defeated the Altoona Curve by a score of 8-1 on Saturday night in front of a season-high 7,488 fans at TD Bank Ballpark in the fifth of a six-game set.
The Somerset Patriots defeated the Altoona Curve by a score of 8-1 on Saturday night in front of a season-high 7,488 fans at TD Bank Ballpark in the fifth of a six-game set.
BACK-TO-BACK💣
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) June 18, 2023
Tyler Hardman demolishes his second homer of the game and team leading 13th homer of the year to put us ahead 8-1 in the 7th! pic.twitter.com/yE2SV6W9J7
With the win, the Patriots retain their half-game lead in the Eastern League Northeast Division. Somerset has now won eight of their last nine games and 13 of their last 16.
Rehabbing Yankees CF Harrison Bader went 1-for-4 with a single in the 1st inning.
Somerset homered 3+ times for the 13th time this season, and have now homered 90 times on the season, tops in the Eastern League.
RHP Clayton Beeter (5.2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 7 K) earned his fourth straight win and sixth of the year, tied for the Eastern League lead. Over his last five starts, Beeter is 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA and 33 K in 27 IP. Beeter now leads the Eastern League with a 2.08 ERA, is 2nd with 76 Ks, and 6th with a .204 opponent average. Beeter has struck out 6+ in eight of his 12 starts this season.
3B Tyler Hardman (2-for-4, 2 HR) put Somerset on the board and tied the ballgame at one with a solo blast in the 2nd inning, before his 7th inning solo homer capped off the scoring.
Hardman’s first blast left the bat at 108.8 MPH, and his second at 103.3 MPH, clearing the batter’s eye in center field and traveling 438 ft.
Hardman’s 13 homers this season lead the team and are tied for 5th in the Eastern League. Saturday marked the second two-homer performance of Hardman’s career, with the first occurring as a member of High-A Hudson Valley on 6/15/22. Hardman joins Eric Wagaman (6/15) and Jeisson Rosario (4/23) as the only Patriots with multi-homer games this season.
RF Aaron Palensky (2-for-3, 3 RBI) registered multiple hits for 17th time this season and third as a member of the Patriots. Palensky’s .337 average leads the Yankees organization this season, while he ranks second in HR (14), RBI (42), 2B (14), R (43), and third in XBH (30), and TB (115).
SS Trey Sweeney (1-for-4, 3 R HR) went back-to-back with Tyler Hardman in the 7th inning, crushing a three-run blast for his sixth homer of the year and second of the series. In the month of June, Sweeney is 19-for-68 (.279) with 3 HR, 9 RBI, and an .823 OPS.