Erie’s five-run lead had disappeared by the sixth inning, but the SeaWolves still found their way back to even in the eighth. What followed required no run-scoring hit from Reading — only a passed ball, a bases-loaded walk and a hit batter, the unraveling complete in a 13-10 SeaWolves loss Saturday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Wandisson Charles entered the bottom of the eighth with the game tied at 10. A strikeout that reached on a wild pitch, two singles and another strikeout loaded the bases with two outs. A passed ball brought home the go-ahead run, and Charles walked Bryson Ware to force in another.
Colin Fields replaced him and retired Caleb Ricketts on a fly ball, but Nick Biddison was hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded. Reading had scored three times without a run-scoring hit in the inning.
Charles took the loss after allowing three earned runs in one-third of an inning. He walked two and struck out two.
The finish spoiled an afternoon in which Erie scored nine times in the first three innings and hit three early home runs. Peyton Graham opened the game with a double, Zyhir Hope walked and Thayron Liranzo crushed an 0-2 pitch toward right-center. The ball carried beyond Pedro León’s reach and into the suite level for Liranzo’s 19th homer, giving the SeaWolves a 3-0 lead before they had made an out.
Reading answered with four runs against Carlos Peña in the bottom of the first. Peña lasted two-thirds of an inning and allowed three earned runs, and the game’s shape was established immediately: Erie could create separation, but it could not keep it.
Luke Shliger tied the game with a leadoff homer to center in the second. Seth Stephenson followed with a triple and scored on Graham’s single before Hope drove a 2-2 pitch the other way. Left fielder Bryson Ware drifted to the wall and jumped, but the ball slipped over it for a two-run homer and a 7-4 Erie lead.
Graham added an RBI triple in the third, sending a drive toward the right-center wall that stayed in the park by just enough. Hope’s RBI single followed, putting Erie ahead 9-4. Graham had three hits through three innings and finished 3-for-5 with a double and a triple. Hope went 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs, while Stephenson was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs and a stolen base.
That five-run cushion lasted only until the bottom of the inning. León homered off Dariel Fregio, and Ware later sent Fregio’s first pitch well over the left-field wall for a three-run shot. A game Erie had threatened to pull away from was suddenly 9-8.
The SeaWolves’ offense went quiet against the Reading bullpen, failing to score in the fourth through seventh innings. Yoniel Curet worked around three walks in the fifth, but Aidan Miller and Aroon Escobar opened the sixth with doubles, the second scoring Miller with the tying run. Tanner Kohlhepp entered and allowed an inherited runner to score on Carson DeMartini’s single before finishing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts and no walks. Curet was charged with two earned runs in one inning and his second blown save.
Erie manufactured one last recovery in the eighth. Shliger walked, moved to second on a groundout and scored when Hope’s soft grounder was bobbled and kicked away by pitcher Mavis Graves.
The tie lasted only until the bottom half. By the time Charles and Fields escaped it, Erie’s explosive opening had become a three-run deficit. Wen-Hui Pan retired the SeaWolves in order in the ninth, ending a game in which Erie collected 12 hits and scored 10 runs — and still could not make nine runs in three innings stand up.