READING, Pa. (May 31, 2026) — For the first time in the series, the Senators scored first in the game, plating three runs right away in the top of the first. Max Romero capped off the frame with a two-run homer to straightaway center, his first of two home runs in the game.
The Fightin Phils answered with a run in the first off RHP Isaac Lyon. Reading tied the game 3-3 with another two runs in the third.
Lyon went 2.2 innings, allowing the three runs on eight hits and a walk, striking out four. RHP Marquis Grissom Jr. (W, 2-1) faced one batter and struck him out to end the third.
Then Harrisburg jumped back out in front in the fourth. Leading off the inning, Romero hit a towering fly ball to right, just clearing the wall for his second homer of the game.
He joins Sam Petersen and Seaver King as Senators with two-homer games this season.
The following batter, Kervin Pichardo, belted a home run to left, his second of the season. It is also the third time this season the Sens have hit back-to-back home runs.
After Cortland Lawson doubled, Johnathon Thomas later drove him in with a sac fly to stretch the lead to 6-3.
In the fifth, Lawson doubled again to score Petersen and push the Senators in front 7-3.
Meanwhile, RHP Connor Van Scoyoc came on in the fourth and shut down the Fightin Phils offense. He held Reading to just one hit in the fourth through seventh innings, at one point retiring 11 hitters in a row.
Trouble came with one out in the eighth. The Fightins' Raylen Heredia doubled home a run and Dylan Campbell hit a two-run home run to cut the Harrisburg lead to 7-6.
In all, Van Scoyoc went five innings and allowed three runs on four hits and no walks. He struck out seven.
Cayden Wallace added insurance in the ninth with a line drive into the Reading bullpen for his 11th home run of the season to bring the lead to 8-6.
RHP Erick Mejia (S, 6) came on and tossed his seventh-straight scoreless outing, retiring the side in order in the ninth.
The Senators return home for a six-game series with the Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees) starting Tuesday, June 2, 6:30 p.m.