Erie kept finding its way back into Sunday’s regular-season finale, answering one Reading burst after another until the SeaWolves stood two runs down in the seventh with the heart of their order having another chance.
That chance disappeared beneath an eight-run inning.
Johan Simon was charged with seven earned runs in two-thirds of the bottom of the seventh, and Aroon Escobar’s two-run homer off Yosber Sanchez completed the collapse in a 17-7 loss to the Fightin Phils at FirstEnergy Stadium. Reading finished with 16 hits and turned a competitive game into a rout in the span of one inning.
The performance gave fresh weight to manager Tony Cappuccini’s blunt pregame assessment of an Erie pitching staff that had struggled in the previous game.
“I thought we were atrocious on the mound, just not gaining count leverage, not getting ahead of hitters, not putting hitters away with two strikes, not executing pitches.”
— Tony Cappuccini, Erie SeaWolves Manager
Erie’s offense gave its pitchers room to recover. Andrew Jenkins hit his 11th homer in the second, Woody Hadeen homered in the third and the SeaWolves took a 4-2 lead in the fourth on Patrick Lee’s RBI double and Peyton Graham’s sacrifice fly.
Max Alba could not hold it. Carson DeMartini opened Reading’s half of the fourth with a double, and Austin Murr’s pop-up single put two aboard. Raider Tello drove a ball toward the center-field wall, where Hadeen twisted back but could not make the play. Both runners scored on the double.
Luis Caicuto followed with an RBI single before Bryan Rincon drove a line drive over the right-field wall, completing a five-run inning and putting Reading ahead 7-4. Alba took the loss after allowing seven earned runs in four innings, striking out four and walking two.
The Fightin Phils added single runs in the fifth and sixth, but Erie continued to answer. Lee sent a two-out, two-strike drive beyond the center-field wall in the sixth, watching it carry into the suites before tossing his bat. His two-run homer cut the deficit to 8-6.
Hadeen walked to begin the seventh, and Zyhir Hope singled before Izaac Pacheco’s ground-ball single to right brought Hadeen home. Erie had pulled within 9-7, its second comeback from a three-run deficit within four innings.
Lee went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double and three RBIs. Hadeen reached four times, going 2-for-3 with a homer, a double and two walks. E.J. Exposito scored twice and stole three bases as the SeaWolves produced seven runs on eight hits.
It still was not nearly enough.
Simon allowed a leadoff double to Escobar in the seventh, walked Carson DeMartini and, after recording an out, walked Murr to load the bases. His walk to Tello forced in the first run. Caicuto then lined a two-run double off the center-field wall, beyond Hadeen’s leaping attempt.
Rincon supplied the blow that broke the game open. Batting from the opposite side from his first homer, he drove a three-run shot over the right-field wall and into the pool for a 15-7 lead. After Pedro León singled, Sanchez entered and Escobar lifted a two-run homer to complete the eight-run inning and establish the final margin.
Simon walked three and did not record a strikeout. Fourteen of Reading’s 17 runs were charged to him and Alba. Rincon went 3-for-4 with two homers, while Caicuto went 4-for-5 with a homer and two doubles.
Cappuccini had made clear before the game that postseason bullpen opportunities would not be distributed on reputation or the need to keep pitchers occupied.
“Our starting rotation is going to be pretty much set, but who gets used out of the bullpen is going to be performance-based, and there’s plenty of guys not performing right now, and they’re not going to see the mound.”
— Tony Cappuccini, Erie SeaWolves Manager
Sunday left Erie with an offense capable of repeatedly pulling a game back within reach—and a pitching problem too large for even seven runs to cover.