Kyle Datres Homers Off MLB All-Star But Yard Goats Fall to Somerset

Final: Somerset 7, Hartford 2

WP- Matt Sauer (2-2)

LP- Nick Garcia (2-8)

T- 2:42

Hartford, CT- Kyle Datres homered off of 2022 American League All-Star Nestor Cortes, and Warming Bernabel connected with a solo shot later in the contest, but the Yard Goats fell to the Somerset Patriots 7-2 in front of a sellout on Sunday afternoon at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford. Fineas Del Bonta-Smith, Blake Goldsberry, and Stephen Jones also delivered superb efforts out of the bullpen, combining for four-and-a-third innings of scoreless ball while allowing just two hits and striking out eight Somerset batters.

The Patriots attacked in the second inning, as they pushed three runs across the plate to take an early lead. T.J. Rumfield homered to right field to lead off the inning, and Elijah Dunham immediately followed that up with his best Rumfield impersonation, homering over the tall wall in right field for back-to-back jacks for Somerset. The next batter, Tyler Hardman, singled through the hole on the left side of the infield, and after another single from Josh Breaux advanced him to second base, Hardman scored on a double off the bat of Trey Sweeney to make it 3-0 Somerset after two frames.

Somerset added to their lead in the fourth inning. Jasson Dominguez led off with a single to right field, and two batters later, Elijah Dunham doubled into the right center field gap, allowing Dominguez to score from first base. However, Hartford starter Nick Garcia bounced back, striking out the last two batters of the inning to keep it a 4-0 Somerset advantage heading into the bottom of the third inning.

The Yard Goats immediately responded in the third frame. After extending his league-leading hit streak to 14 games in the first inning with a line drive single to center field, Kyle Datres drilled a solo home run off of Nestor Cortes, sending it into the second deck in right field. After three innings, Somerset held onto a 4-1 lead.

Hartford trimmed the Patriots lead to just two in the sixth inning. Fighting to stay alive on a 0-2 count, Warming Bernabel tomahawked a high fastball 382 feet over the wall in left field for a solo blast, making it a 4-2 Somerset advantage heading into the seventh inning.

Looking to deflate Hartford’s rally, the Patriots extended their lead in the eighth inning. Dunham delivered a one-out single in front of Hardman, who hit a 2-run, opposite field home run to right field. Mickey Gasper then worked a walk before Breaux doubled to put two men in scoring position with two-outs. The next batter, Sweeney, applied pressure to the Yard Goats defense by bouncing a ball to the right side of the infield, and a fielding error by Hartford drove Gasper in from third base, giving the Patriots a 7-2 lead after eight frames.

The Yard Goats and New Hampshire Fisher Cats will play the first game of a six-game series on Tuesday night (7:10 PM) at Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester. Colton Schmidt is scheduled to start Game 1 for the Yard Goats. Tuesday’s game will be broadcast on AM 1410, FM 100.9 and on the iheart radio app.