Hardman's Historic Homer Powers Patriots to 6-5 Comeback Win
EL Somerset Patriots

Hardman's Historic Homer Powers Patriots to 6-5 Comeback Win

Published on May 8, 2026 under Eastern League (EL)
Somerset Patriots News Release


Tyler Hardman of the Somerset Patriots at bat
Tyler Hardman of the Somerset Patriots at bat
(Somerset Patriots)

The Somerset Patriots scored five unanswered runs to take down the Reading Fightin Phils 6-5 at FirstEnergy Stadium on Friday night. The Patriots have now won a season-high three straight games for the second time this year and eight of their last 11 games overall.

Somerset claimed its fifth one-run victory of the season. The Patriots' five one-run wins rank third in the Eastern League.

Through the first four games of the series, Somerset has tallied 59 hits, 40 runs and 11 home runs. The 59 hits and 40 runs mark the most by Somerset in the first four games of a series in franchise history. The 11 homers are tied for second through a series' first four games in franchise history behind Somerset's 12 HR 6/28/23-7/1/23 at Bowie.

Somerset's 10 hits recorded marked the fourth consecutive game the Patriots have collected 10-plus hits. The Patriots have posted double digit hits in nine of their last 10 games and are batting .351 as a team in that span.

With two home runs in the contest, Somerset has smashed multiple homers in a franchise record 12 straight games and 16 of its last 18 games. Somerset's 60 home runs this season lead all of Double-A. The 60 home runs mark the most home runs by a Double-A team and are the fourth-most by any MiLB team through the season's first 30 games since at least 2005. Over Somerset's last 18 games, the Patriots have hit 44 home runs with 56.6% of their runs in that span coming around to score on the long ball.

RHP Jack Cebert (5.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) struck out the side in the fourth inning. Across the third and fourth innings, Cebert struck out four straight batters. Through two appearances with Double-A Somerset, Cebert has 13 strikeouts across 10.1 IP.

RHP Ben Grable (1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K) earned his first Double-A win, picking up a strikeout in a perfect sixth inning. Grable has six strikeouts across 4.2 IP in four appearances with Somerset this season.

RHP Chris Kean (1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) earned his first career Double-A save and first save since 2024. It marked Somerset's third save this season.

CF Jace Avina (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, R) mashed a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning for his ninth home run of the season. Avina extended his hit streak to a season-high nine games and notched an extra base hit for a season-high sixth consecutive game. Avina has smashed an XBH in eight of nine games during his hit streak, slashing .341/.370/.795 with 10 XBH and 14 RBI in that span. After three XBH in his first 12 games, Avina has 10 XBH in his last 15 games. He has raised his OPS from .482 to .837 in that span. Avina's 17 XBH this season rank third in the Yankees minor league system.

LF Jackson Castillo (1-for-3, RBI, 2 BB, 2 R) extended his team-leading hit streak to a career-high 13 games. It's the longest hit streak by a Patriot this season. Castillo's 13-game hit streak is the longest active streak in the Eastern League. It is tied for the third-longest single-season hit streak in team history and the longest by a Patriot since Elijah Dunham had a franchise record 17-game hit streak 6/20/24 to 7/10/24. Through 13 games this season, Castillo is slashing .380/.483/.500 and has reached in 29-of-60 plate appearances. Dating back to last season, Castillo has a hit in 15 straight games with Somerset.

3B Tyler Hardman (2-for-4, R) became Somerset's all-time hits leader with his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. Hardman tied Max Burt and Elijah Dunham's 241 career hits with a single in the fourth, before belting his franchise-record 242nd hit on a two-run home run in the sixth. Hardman now holds the franchise record in hits, HR (63) and RBI (184).

Hardman extended his hit streak to a career-high tying 10 games (last: 6/29/24-7/10/24). During his 10-game hit streak, he's slashing .513/.578/1.026 with six HR, 16 RBI and seven multi-hit games. Hardman's 29 RBI lead the Eastern League, are tied for first in Double-A and rank second among Yankees farmhands. Over his last 12 games, he's raised his batting average from .200 to .320 and OPS from .727 to 1.052.

C Manny Palencia (1-for-4, RBI) pushed his hit streak to a season-high seven games. He is 9-for-26 (.346 AVG) in that span.

2B Duncan Pastore (2-for-4, R) registered his first multi-hit game of the season with a single and stolen base in the seventh inning. Through two games with Somerset this season, Pastore is 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

SS Owen Cobb (1-for-3) extended his hit streak to a season-high seven games. In that span, he's 9-for-25 with seven RBI.

Check out the Somerset Patriots Statistics

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Tyler Hardman of the Somerset Patriots at bat
Tyler Hardman of the Somerset Patriots at bat
   



Eastern League Stories from May 8, 2026


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