Hartford’s Adael Amador hit his 14th home run of the season Sunday as the Goats closed out the regular season with a third straight win.
Pitcher Mason Green earned his first Eastern League win in five impressive innings as the Hartford Yard Goats beat the Akron RubberDucks, 5-4, on Sunday night at Canal Park in Ohio.
The Yard Goats left-hander retired the first 11 batters and held Akron to just one run on five hits with five strikeouts in five innings leading Hartford to its third consecutive victory to close out the regular season.
Hartford’s Adael Amador cranked his 14th home run, and the Yard Goats stole five bases to win the league’s regular season stolen base crown with a franchise-record 207.
The Yard Goats, who won the first half of the season in the EL’s Northeast Division, open the best-of-3 Northeast Division finals on Tuesday in Somerset, N.J., against the New York Yankees’ Double A affiliate, who won the second half championship.
Game two will be Thursday in Hartford at Dunkin Park at 7:10 p.m., and game three, if necessary, will be on Friday in Hartford, also at 7:10 p.m. A free watch party will be held Tuesday night on Pratt Street in Hartford to watch game one on the big screen.
RHP Chase Dollander will start for the Yard Goats. The game will be broadcast on the free Audacy app and milb.tv.
Akron will be playing defending league champion Erie in the Southwest Division championship series.
It is the first playoff berth since the Yard Goats, the Double A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies came to Hartford in 2016.
It’s been 15 years since this franchise has played playoff baseball. The last team in franchise history to secure an Eastern League playoff berth was the New Britain Rock Cats in 2009 at New Britain Stadium.
On Sunday, the Yard Goats took a 3-0 lead with three runs in the fifth inning off Akron starter Tommy Mace.
Hartford’s Braeden Ward was hit by a pitch and went on to steal second base. Ward then stole third base and catcher Cooper Ingle’s throw went into left field and Ward scored the first run of the game.
Amador followed with a line drive homer into the right field bullpen, his 14th home run of the season. Juan Guerrero continued the rally with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Braxton Fulford, giving the Yard Goats a 3-0 lead.
After retired the first 11 batters, including four strikeouts, Green surrendered back-to-back singles with two outs in the fourth inning. He then struck out Milan Tolentino to end the threat. Akron put together a two-out rally in the fifth inning with three straight singles, including and RBI hit by Cooper Ingle to make it a 3-1 game.
It was just Green’s second appearance with the Yard Goats and his first start. He was 9-5 with a 2.79 ERA in 20 games with Spokane in Single A.
The Yard Goats added a pair of runs in the sixth off the RubberDucks bullpen to take a 5-1 lead. Ward began the inning with a walk and scored on an infield grounder by Juan Guerrero and Ryan Ritter drove home Amador with a sacrifice fly.
Hartford finished the season at 76-60 and 38-30 in the second half of the campaign. Portland has the best record in the Northeast Division with a overall mark (78-60) this season but the Red Sox affiliate was 2½ games behind Hartford in the first half of the season and finished a 1½ games behind Somerset in the second half of the season.
Northeast Division championship series
Tuesday, Sept. 17
Game 1: Hartford at Somerset
Thursday, Sept. 18
Game 2: Somerset at Hartford, 7:10 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 19
Game 3: Somerset at Hartford, 7:10 p.m., if necessary
Eastern League championship series
Sunday, Sept. 22
Game 1: Northeast champion at Southwest champion
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Game 2: Southwest champion at Northeast champion
Wednesday, Sept. 24
Game 3: Southwest champion at Northeast champion, if necessary
