Palencia Powers First Double-A Homer as Somerset Falls to Richmond
The Somerset Patriots fell to the Richmond Flying Squirrels 10-4 at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ on Saturday night. With the loss, Somerset dropped to 4.0 games back of first-place Reading in the Northeast Division. Somerset’s offense tallied 10 hits, marking its second consecutive game with double-digit hits. The
The Somerset Patriots fell to the Richmond Flying Squirrels 10-4 at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ on Saturday night.
With the loss, Somerset dropped to 4.0 games back of first-place Reading in the Northeast Division.
Somerset’s offense tallied 10 hits, marking its second consecutive game with double-digit hits. The loss was Somerset’s ninth this season when recording 10-plus hits. The Patriots combined to hit 2-for-12 with RISP, marking the ninth time in the last 10 games Somerset has recorded multiple hits with RISP. Somerset has won 16 of its last 17 games when recording multiple hits with RISP.
With Manny Palencia’s homer in the fourth inning, Somerset extended its streak to 12 consecutive games with a home run. Somerset has homered in 12 straight games for the first time since homering in a season-high 14 straight games on April 24 to May 8. Somerset’s active 12-game streak with a home run leads the Eastern League.
Somerset’s 147 homers this season pace Double-A and rank seventh in MiLB at the time of the game’s conclusion.
RHP Chase Hampton (0.2 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 3 BB, 1 K) struck out Diego Velasquez in the first inning in his eighth start with Somerset this season.
LHP Geoff Gilbert (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K) tossed a season-high four strikeouts across two scoreless innings.
CF Jace Avina (0-for-4, R, HBP) extended his on-base streak to a team-leading 11 games with a hit by pitch in the fifth inning, before coming around to score on an RBI single from Manny Palencia. During Avina’s on-base streak, he’s reached base in 19 of 51 plate appearances (.392 OBP).
Manny Palencia has his FIRST DOUBLE-A HOME RUN!!!🥳 pic.twitter.com/z7vSF4rXyY
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 2, 2026
DH Manny Palencia (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) belted his first Double-A home run to lead off the fourth inning. Palencia’s homer marked his second career homer and first since June 2, 2025 vs. Clearwater. Since the start of July, Palencia is slashing .404/.426/.519 with a HR, 6 RBI, 4 XBH and 21 hits in 14 games. With a team-high three hits, Palencia registered his fourth three-hit game of the year and 12th multi-hit game overall.
C Tomas Frick (1-for-4) extended his hit streak to a season-high four games with a single in the eighth inning. During his four-game hit streak, he’s 6-for-13 with a HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB and 4 R.
SS Kevin Verde (3-for-3, 2 2B, BB) reached base safely in all four of his plate appearances, smacking two doubles for the first time this season. Verde tied a career-high with three hits for the first time since August 17, 2024 vs. DSL Colorado. Verde extended his hit streak to a season-high five games. In that span, he’s 8-for-15 with 3 HR, 5 XBH, 9 RBI, 2 BB and 3 R.
RF Luis Durango (1-for-3, RBI, HBP) reached base safely in each of his first two plate appearances. Across five Double-A games this season, Durango is 6-for-14 with 3 R, 2 XBH, 3 RBI, 3 SB and a BB.
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