HARTFORD, Sept. 8, 2024 — Zach Kokoska crushed his Eastern League leading 19th home run of the season but the Hartford Yard Goats fell to the Altoona Curve 9-5 in front of a sellout crowd (7,047) on Sunday afternoon at Dunkin’ Park.
Colorado Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela made his third rehab appearance for Hartford. Senzatela pitched 3.2 innings in the start giving up five runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk, with four of the five runs coming in the first inning.
It was the final regular season game of the season for the Yard Goats, who hit the road to play a six-game series in Akron.
But thanks to Hartford winning the first half championship in the Eastern League’s Northeast Division, the Yard Goats will be back at home at Dunkin’ Park on Thursday, Sept. 19, when they host game 2 of the best-of-three semifinal series, mostly likely against either Portland or Somerset.
Game one of the Northeast Division final will be Tuesday, Sept. 17. Game three, if necessary, will be Friday, Sept. 20 in Hartford.
On Sunday, Altoona scored four runs in the first inning off Senzatela. Altoona’s Jase Bowen hit a sac-fly to center field that scored Kervin Pichardo giving the Curve a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Tres Gonzalez hit an RBI-single into right field that scored Sammy Siani making the score 2-0. Then, Brenden Dixon hit an RBI-double into left field that scored Nick Cimillo and Tres Gonzalez increasing the Curve lead to 4-0.
In the second inning, Hartford got on the board when Bladimir Restituyo smacked an RBI-double into left field off Altoona starter Emmanuel Chapman that scored Braxton Fulford, cutting the Yard Goats deficit to 4-1.
In the third inning, Altoona increased their lead when Jase Bowen hit his 8th home run of the season to right field making it a 5-1 ballgame.
In the bottom of the third, Hartford got closer when Kyle Datres roped an RBI-single into center field that scored Adael Amador, making the score 5-2.
In the fifth inning, the Yard Goats pulled within to when Adael Amador scored on an RBI-groundout from Sterlin Thompson, making the score 5-3.
In the seventh inning, Altoona added to their lead when Nick Cimillo hit a two-run home run to center field that scored Sammy Siani, making it a 7-3 ballgame.
In the eighth inning, Altoona scored again on an RBI-single from Matt Frazier that scored Brenden Dixon, giving Altoona an 8-3 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Hartford scored two more runs to cut the Altoona lead to three. First, Kokoska crushed his Eastern League leading 19th homer of the season to right field making the score 8-4. Then, Juan Guerrero hit an RBI sac-fly to center field that scored Bladimir Restituyo making it an 8-5 ballgame.
On Saturday, Ryan Ritter crushed his seventh homer of the season and Warming Bernabel extended his hitting streak to 13 games but the Hartford Yard Goats fell to the Altoona Curve 4-2 in front of a sellout crowd (6,956) on Saturday night at Dunkin’ Park.
West Springfield native and former University of Hartford pitcher Nick Dombkowski pitched six innings allowing one run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts to pick up the win for the Curve. Altoona scored two runs in the second on RBI-singles from Kevin Pichardo and Tsun-Che Cheng to make the score 2-0. Altoona scored two more runs in the seventh when Termarr Johnson hit a home run to right field and Tsung-Che Cheng hit an RBI-double which made the score 4-1.
