Bowie surges in final innings to rally and beat Yard Goats, 10-8

Brandon Gold pitched five innings and struck out three Wednesday night against Bowie.

HARTFORD, June 20 — Preston Palmiero doubled, had two singles and knocked in four runs to lift the Bowie Baysox to a come-from-behind 10-8 Eastern League victory win over the Hartford Yard Goats Wednesday night, before a sellout crowd of 6,081 at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

Palmiero, the son of former major league player Rafael Palmiero, delivered a two-run double to highlight a ninth-inning uprising.

Trailing 6-5 going to the ninth, Bowie erupted for five unearned runs off of Yard Goats closer Logan Cozart.

Bowie’s Ryan McKenna opened with a single and after a sacrifice bunt, Hartford left fielder Manny Melendez dropped a fly ball hit by the Baysox’s Ademar Rifaela, enabling McKenna to score the tying run.  After a single and a walk, Cole Billingsley’s fielder’s choice ground out knocked in the go-ahead run.  Palmiero then broke the game open with a two-run double to right center. Jesmuel Valentin followed with an RBI-single.  He is the son of former major league player Jose Valentin.

Hartford (37-31) overcame an early 4-0 deficit on a two-run homer in the fourth inning by Alan Trejo, and a home run by Vance Vizcaino and two-run single by Colton Welker in the fifth.

Palmiero tied the game in the sixth with a run-scoring single, before the Yard Goats recaptured the lead in the sixth on Vizcaino’s RBI-triple.  Hartford added two runs in the ninth on Welker’s two-run homer.

Brandon Gold started for Hartford and pitched five innings, allowing four runs on eight hits.  He struck out three.

Welker had a home run, single and four RBI, while Vizcaino added a homer, triple and two RBI to pace Hartford’s 11-hit attack.

Bowie (31-38) pounded out 17 hits led by Palmiero’s three hits and four RBI.  McKenna and Rylan Bannon each had three hits.

The game also featured the Bowie debut of Willy Yahn, who played for UConn and grew up in Sharon, Connecticut. Yahn had an RBI-double in his first Double-A at bat and went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

It was the 19th sellout for Hartford and the first game of the second half of the season.  The Eastern League is using a split season format for the first time in its history. The Yard Goats finished third in the Eastern Division in the first half of the season, two games behind Trenton, which secured a playoff berth.

The finale of the three-game series is Thursday at 7:05 PM.  RHP Health Holder gets the start for Hartford against LHP Zac Lowther for Bowie. 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 and on MiLB.com.