HARRISBURG, PA - The Erie SeaWolves (33-32) could not get the bats going against Harrisburg Senators (34-32) starter Isaac Lyon, who tossed 6.2 innings of one-run baseball to hand the SeaWolves the 3-1 loss.
SeaWolves starting pitcher Carlos Peña had some moments of brilliance against the Senators' order in his tenth start of the season. After striking out Devin Fitz-Gerald to begin the game, he surrendered the third home run of the series to Cayden Wallace. Peña bounced back to finish off the inning in quick succession with a pop-up and strikeout.
Opposite Peña, Lyon was tremendous. The right-hander surrendered a first-inning single to John Peck but proceeded to retire the next 17 hitters he faced in dominant fashion. The SeaWolves would eventually get to him when Justice Bigbie smashed his fourth homer of the season out to left-center field.
Bigbie’s homer extended his hit streak to 16 games and made the Virginia native just the ninth player in SeaWolves history to reach that mark. It also extended the SeaWolves home run streak to 17 consecutive games with a homer, matching the best mark by the SeaWolves in the past 20 seasons. The 6.2 inning start marked the longest outing of Lyon's Double-A career and finished as the fewest runs he's allowed in an outing this season.
Peña set down nine in a row in his own regard after that first inning home run. The lefty had already collected six strikeouts by the time he next allowed a hit. That hit was a single off the bat of Sam Petersen, who eventually came around to score the Senators' second run on an RBI single from Caleb Lomavita.
Harrisburg added another run in the fifth inning to take a three-run lead before the SeaWolves bullpen shut down the Senators offense the rest of the way as Moises Rodriguez and Yosber Sanchez combined for three scoreless frames in relief.
Erie threatened in the eighth inning with the tying run in scoring position and one out before Senators reliever Jared Simpson recorded a strikeout and a groundout to escape the inning unscathed.
Max Alba starts for the SeaWolves to kick off the weekend in Harrisburg tomorrow night with first pitch at 7:00 PM.
Single-game tickets, suites, picnics, The Club by Synchrony events, and Bud Light Party Deck groups are now available by visiting SeaWolves.com, calling 814-456-1300, or visiting the UPMC Park Box Office in person.