Despite season-high 15 hits, Richmond Flying Squirrels drop third straight

The Richmond Flying Squirrels fell to the Altoona Curve, 7-5, for their third consecutive loss on Wednesday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

The Flying Squirrels (20-15) racked up a season-high 15 hits and had five players with multi-hit performances. Brandon Martorano, Shane Matheny and Armani Smith each had three hits in the loss.

Facing a 5-4 deficit in the seventh, Martorano smashed a leadoff triple and Tyler Fitzgerald lofted a sacrifice fly to center field that evened the score, 5-5.

Liover Peguero reclaimed the lead for Altoona (16-19) in the seventh with an RBI single off Ryan Walker (Loss, 6-1) and Blake Sabol rocketed a run-scoring triple to extend the Curve’s advantage to 7-5. Sabol finished the afternoon 4-for-4 with three RBIs.

J.C. Flowers (Win, 2-2) set down Richmond in order during the eighth inning and Colin Selby (Save, 5) pitched a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts to secure the victory.

Richmond opened the scoring in the first inning when Frankie Tostado lined an RBI single into right field, scoring Brett Auerbach from second and pushed the Flying Squirrels ahead, 1-0.

The Curve responded with three runs in the bottom of the first to claim a 3-1 lead. Peguero tied the game with an RBI triple, Sabol jumped Altoona in front with a base hit and Matt Frisbee was charged with a step off violation that brought the third run across.

With the bases loaded in the second, Mike Gigliotti brought the Flying Squirrels within a run off a sacrifice fly to right.

Trailing, 3-2, entering the third inning, Tostado propelled a solo home run to right field to even the game. Martorano followed with a double and Shane Matheny brought him home with a base hit to advance the Flying Squirrels in front, 4-3.

Sabol tied the game, 4-4, in the bottom of the third with his second hit of the day, a run-scoring double.

Leading off the sixth inning, Andres Alvarez batted a solo home run to give the Curve a 5-4 advantage. It was Alvarez’s second day with a homer in the series.

Game three of the series will be Thursday night with a 6 p.m. first pitch from Peoples Natural Gas Field. Right-hander Jake Dahlberg (2-1, 3.53) will make the start for Richmond.

The Flying Squirrels return home May 24-29 for a six-game series against the Hartford Yard Goats. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.