By Tiffany Williams –
On Sunday at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford, Connecticut, the Yard Goats, who won the first half Northeast Division Championship wrapped up their six game homestand with the Harrisburg Senators, winning 5-0, winning the series 5-1 to win their second straight series after taking two of three in Bowie, and it is the second time this season they have won five of six in a series after doing so May 28 – June 2 against the Reading Fightin Phils.
The Yard Goats first four runs were all in the bottom of the first with Sterlin Thompson, Yanquiel Fernandez, Bladimir Restituyo, and then Kyle Datres scoring on a balk.
Bottom of the eighth, Zach Kokoska hit his 15th homer of the season to extend Hartfords lead to 5-0.
Yard Goats Starting pitcher Sunday, Jarrod Cande, earned sixth win of the season. He threw 92 pitches in seven innings, and 65 were strikes. He allowed six hits, gave up no runs, and struck out one.
Before Sunday’s game Yard Goats Manager Bobby Meacham talked this season with the Yard Goats, and Meacham said, “The Yard Goats have been good, 2024 Yard Goats are in pretty good shape right now. We were able to play well down the stretch of that first half and win the first half championship. It meant a lot to these guys that played hard, not only played hard during the games, but worked hard before the game. So we’re in good shape going here in the second half also, and hopefully continue our winning ways.
When asked about coming into the Yard Goats at the beginning of the season, and if he expected the outcome at the end of the first half, Meacham said, “We talked at the beginning of the season as a team, coaching staff and players, all expecting to win. We expect to work hard, get better every day, not only the players, their positions and what they’re doing, but also our staff, coaching staff. We want to get better and become better coaches so we can help these guys become better players. And we were hoping, and it turned out that we would develop into something that was a winning tradition here, a winning type of playing, winning type of ball games, and that’s what we did.
When asked about the momentum of winning, the vibe that the Yard Goats have going on in the clubhouse right now, and how they keep that going into the second half, Meacham said, I think we just keep stressing the importance of all the little things, the detail stuff that leads up to that. I don’t think winning just happens on its own. It happens because you’re talented, absolutely, but it also happens because you’re talented and you’re doing the things that put you in position to win. Once we established that early in the season, these guys were working on things that were gonna put them in the expectation of, hey, I’m doing all the work. It should come out in the games and it should come out in terms of winning baseball type plays that we do. And I think it happens, and that’s what’s happened so far this season.”
When asked about Adael Amador, Meacham said, “For him, it’s been a great, I think, a great experience of having success throughout his minor league career and then coming into this season struggling at the beginning because now he understands it just doesn’t happen. It might not happen, even if you work really hard, but so it’s helped him to understand that take nothing for granted. Continued hard work will play off in the end, and we’re starting to see him play really good baseball lately.”
When asked what he was stressing more in the second half of the season with players, and how much of it is about the game and how much of it is about development, Meacham said, “It’s all about development. It’s all about getting better. To me, development just means just that. Each day I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna hear something, I’m gonna see something that makes me a better player. That just develops what I have already, the physical ability I have, it develops that, and it develops the mental capacity to watch the game and learn and grow from it, and do better when those situations come up. So the stress is still, it’s always gonna be development, but it’s also development that leads to championship caliber type play. And that’s where we keep stressing these guys, and they’ve done great so far.”
When asked about going to ballparks around the country, then coming to Dunkin Park, and what he had to say about the fans, Meacham said, “Yeah, fans here, so far what I’ve experienced, they love just exciting baseball. They love to see how exciting it is to come to a ballpark that’s clean, it’s refreshing, it’s enjoyable, people around them are cheering. They’re being polite to each other, enjoying each other’s company. It’s just a fun atmosphere to see people come, bring their kids, bring their families out to have a good, enjoyable time watching our ball team play. And of course, winning helps, too. When we win like we’re doing, they enjoy that, too.”
Braxton Fulford, Yard Goats catcher who on Saturday night in the Yard Goats 5-2 win hit his sixth homer of the season in the bottom of the fourth to extend the Goats lead to 0-2, pregame Sunday talked about the first half of this season, and how the Goats ended on a high note saying, “It was a solid first half, obviously. We had some ups, we had some downs, but as a whole, we played together as a team. Pitching did the job when we needed to. Offense did our job when we needed to, and we got the job done.”
When asked about keeping that momentum from the first half going into the second half of the season, Fulford said, “I think it’s definitely carried over in a lot of ways. We know we’re the best team in this league, and we have to go out there every day and prove it. And that’s really our main focus, is showing up every day so that we continue to play well all the way throughout the playoffs.”
When asked about his sixth romer of the season Saturday night, Fulford said, “Yeah, it was a two-strike count, so I was just a two-strike approach, being short to the ball, and he made a mistake, left the ball up over the plate, and I made him pay for it.”
When asked how good it felt, Fulford replied, “Phenomenal. It’s been a little while since I hit a homer, so it felt really good. And like you said, it gives you some momentum moving forward.”
When asked about the chemistry between the players in the clubhouse, Fulford said, “Yeah, we’re all really close friends. Actually, we’re always playing ping pong in there, ping pong or chess. We got a few games going on right now. Yeah, everyone’s good friends. We joke around, we compete. It’s really good chemistry.”
When asked who he would call out from the Sea Dogs for a ping pong match, Fulford replied, “Marcelo Mayer. That’s the only person I know, so I guess him.”
Up next for the Yard Goats is a trip to FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading, PA. for a six game set with the Reading Fightin Phils.
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Richard Rivera contributed to this story.
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