Home Early scoring leads Squirrels to 15-7 win over Fightin Phils in front of sellout crowd
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Early scoring leads Squirrels to 15-7 win over Fightin Phils in front of sellout crowd

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Richmond Flying SquirrelsSean Roby broke the single-season franchise record for home runs with his 21st of the season and the Richmond Flying Squirrels captured a 15-7 win over the Reading Fightin Phils Monday night at The Diamond.

The Flying Squirrels (42-34, 2-5) scored all 15 of their runs through the first four innings and drew nine walks against four Reading pitchers.

Richmond jumped ahead, 3-0, off three hits in the first inning. Frankie Tostado drove an RBI double to left to start the scoring.

Later in the first, Roby followed with a two-run homer to left field to give the Flying Squirrels a 3-0 lead. The homer run moved him ahead of David Villar’s previous record of 20, which was set in 2021. Villar made his major-league debut for the Giants tonight in Arizona.

Reading (33-43, 4-3) answered back with two runs in the second inning. Aldrem Corredor bounced into an RBI groundout and Wendell Rijo lined an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Ricardo Genoves gave the Flying Squirrels a 5-2 lead in the second inning with a two-run homer, his second with Richmond. Jacob Heyward reached on a walk and later scored on a wild pitch from Reading starter Colton Eastman (Loss, 1-1) and Brett Auerbach pushed the Richmond advantage to 7-2 with a sacrifice fly.

The Flying Squirrels piled on five runs in the third inning to push their lead to 12-2. Shane Matheny blasted a two-RBI double to start the scoring and Auerbach lined an RBI single to center field to give Richmond its 10th run of the night. With runners at first and third, Auerbach stole second base and a Reading throwing error scored Heyward from third base. Diego Rincones made it 12-2 with an RBI single.

Heyward propelled his third home run of the season, a three-run blast, in the fifth inning to give the Flying Squirrels a 15-2 advantage. Heyward finished the night with three RBIs, three runs and three walks.

Reading collected two runs in the fifth off a sacrifice fly and an RBI single against Richmond starter Matt Frisbee (Win, 3-6), who finished the night with four runs allowed (three earned), seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

The Fightin Phils drew closer at 15-7 in the seventh with a solo home run from Jhailyn Ortiz and back-to-back bases-loaded walks.

John Russell left the bases loaded in the sixth inning with six strikeouts. Taylor Rashi struck out three of the five batters he faced over 1.1 innings and Blake Rivera issued three walks to load the bases but induced a game-ending double play to secure the victory.

The Flying Squirrels posted their second sellout crowd of the season, drawing 9,810 fans, which is tied for the third-largest crowd in franchise history.

The Flying Squirrels are off Tuesday before continuing the series against the Fightin Phils on Wednesday. Wednesday is Scott’s Addition Community Night presented by River City Roll where the businesses that make the Scott’s Addition neighborhood come together for a night of community. It is also Wine & K-9s where dogs are admitted free to The Diamond every Wednesday home game, along with five-dollar glasses of wine from 5:30-7:30 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with gates opening at 5:30 p.m.

Right-hander Ryan Murphy (0-1, 22.09) will make the start with Richmond opposed by right-hander Griff McGarry who will be making his Double-A debut.

Tickets are available at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.

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