Baysox sink Squirrels: Sweep two-game set

A pair of solo home runs left the Flying Squirrels slightly short in 3-2 loss on Wednesday morning against the Baysox at Prince George’s Stadium. Jonah Arenado drilled his third homer of the year in the seventh inning and Ali Castillo added his first in the eighth in the defeat. Richmond (12-7) finished the road trip with a 3-2 record in five games. The team is off on Thursday and will return to Funnville Friday for a Free Shirt Friday & RVA’s Best Happy Hour. A full rundown of promotions for the upcoming homestand can be found here.

For the second time in a week, Bowie lefty Keegan Akin kept Richmond off-balance. Akin (2-2) cruised through six innings to earn his second win at the Double-A level and his second against the Squirrels. Akin retired the first eight batters he faced and allowed just three hits in the victory. He walked two and struck out five.

Matt Gage was almost as effective for Richmond, but suffered the loss in a quality start. Gage (0-2) worked six innings and scattered six hits while allowing a pair of runs. The left walked one and struck out three.

The Baysox generated the game’s first run in the fourth inning against Gage. Austin Hays lined a one-out double into the corner in right and advanced to third base when Ademar Rifaela rolled an infield base hit to third. With runners on the corners, Arderline Rodriguez stung a one-hopper to second base, resulting in a fielder’s choice and a 1-0 Bowie lead.

Cedric Mullins made it a 2-0 game in favor of Bowie with a solo home run in the sixth. Mullins deposited his fourth home run of the year over the left field fence after Gage had retired the first two batters of the game.

Akin continued to shutdown Richmond through six solid innings of work. He tossed 95 pitches before being replaced by Ryan Meisinger to start the seventh. Jonah Arenado launched the first pitch from Meisinger over the left field wall, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

Dusten Knight relieved Gage in the seventh. Knight yielded a pair of hits and a sacrifice bunt before Erick Salcedo put Bowie back up by two with a sacrifice fly to center, 3-1.

Richmond came right back in the eighth when Ali Castillo poked his first home run of the year inside the foul pole in right field. Castillo’s blast made it a 3-2 contest.

Bowie turned to Paul Fry for the ninth to close out the game. Fry retired the side in order for his first save of the year, completing the two-game sweep of Richmond.