HARTFORD (Interstat) — Reading Fightin Phils beat Hartford Yard Goats 5-4 on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, at Dunkin’ Park, completing a 2-0 sweep of their Eastern League playoff series. The win gave Reading the series and ended Hartford’s season. The game took 2 hours, 57 minutes and drew 4,926 fans. Reading improved to 69-67, while Hartford finished 66-72. It was Game 2 of the playoff series, and Reading won the series.

Reading built its lead with a blend of power, patience and pressure on the bases. Bryan Rincon homered to right-center field and finished 1 for 3 with one RBI. Carson DeMartini singled, stole second, moved to third on a flyout and scored on a wild pitch by Jackson Cox in the second. Pedro León reached base multiple times and singled home a run in the seventh. Aidan Miller added an RBI single in the fifth. The Fightin Phils totaled six hits and took advantage of walks and a hit batter to keep rallies alive. Cox struck out Aroon Escobar and Austin Murr in the early innings, but Reading forced him to work deep in counts. Hartford’s bullpen kept the game close, but Reading found enough traffic on the bases to score in four separate innings.

Hartford stayed within reach. Braylen Wimmer doubled home two runs in the third, and Jared Thomas homered to right field in the eighth. Cole Messina homered to right-center in the ninth to pull the Yard Goats within one. Zach Kokoska struck out to end the game. Hartford finished with five hits. Thomas went 2 for 4 with one homer and one RBI. Wimmer went 1 for 2 with two RBIs. The Yard Goats drew walks in key spots but grounded into a double play in the sixth and could not string together enough hits against Reading’s bullpen. Dyan Jorge walked in the third and eighth innings, and Jack O’Dowd drew a walk in the second, but Hartford left potential rallies unfinished.

Cody Bowker started for Reading and worked four innings, allowing two hits and two earned runs while striking out six. Mavis Graves earned the win with 1 1/3 hitless innings of relief. Estibenzon Jimenez recorded the save, his eighth, allowing one hit and one earned run over 1 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. Wen-Hui Pan struck out two in a scoreless inning. Sam Carlson added 2/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout. For Hartford, Jackson Cox took the loss. Victor Juarez pitched two hitless innings with three strikeouts. Cade Denton added 1 2/3 hitless innings with one strikeout. The pitching staffs combined to keep the game tense into the final at-bat.

Reading’s defense backed its pitchers with a double play in the sixth. Bryan Rincon, playing shortstop, helped turn a grounder off the bat of Roynier Hernandez, with Aidan Miller and Aroon Escobar completing the sequence. The Fightin Phils also got a key force out at home in the seventh, when Caleb Ricketts grounded to first baseman Jack O’Dowd, who threw to catcher Cole Messina to cut down Aidan Miller. Pedro León followed with a single to left, and Carson DeMartini scored, though Aroon Escobar was thrown out at home on the play. That sequence helped Reading preserve its lead. In the bottom of the seventh, O’Dowd struck out, Messina grounded out and GJ Hill struck out, keeping Hartford scoreless.

The victory moved Reading forward in the Eastern League playoffs. The Fightin Phils had also beaten Hartford 21-4 on Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Reading to open the series. Hartford’s season ended after a 66-72 regular-season record. Reading, now 69-67, will continue postseason play. The game was played at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford, Conn.

Before the game, Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Reading 6, Hartford 3. Interstat’s ELO system projected Reading with a 51.7 percent probability to win. The actual game was tighter, with Reading winning by one run and securing the sweep.