Erie walks off Richmond Flying Squirrels with two in the ninth, wins 5-4

The Richmond Flying Squirrels fought back from an early three-run deficit but lost in the ninth, 5-4, against the Erie SeaWolves Thursday night at UPMC Park.

The Flying Squirrels (16-13), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, had the lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before the SeaWolves (15-15) rallied to take their third straight game in the series.

Trailing by three runs in the second inning, Andy Thomas blasted a solo home run to close the score to 3-1. It was Thomas’ second home run of the season and he collected a career-high four hits in a 4-for-4 performance.

With a runner at third and one out in the top of the third, Luis Matos made it a one-run game with an RBI single to center field.

Riley Mahan evened the score, 3-3, in the sixth inning with an RBI double against Erie reliever Tim Naugton. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Carter Williams torched a line drive to left field to plate two runs and sent the Flying Squirrels to a 5-3 advantage.

Erie cut the deficit to 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh off a sacrifice fly from Wenceel Perez. It was the lone run Wil Jensen allowed over 3.0 innings of work.

Evan Gates (Loss, 1-3) entered in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and walk the first hitter to load the bases. He induced a flyout to shallow right field to leave the bases loaded. Erie reliever Adam Wolf (Win, 1-1) held Richmond scoreless in the top of the ninth.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Grant Witherspoon reached on a fielding error and later scored off a double from Gage Workman to tie the game at 5-5. Daniel Cabrera scorched a ground ball to right field to score Workman and pushed the SeaWolves to a 5-4, walk-off victory.

The SeaWolves moved ahead, 3-0, in the bottom of the first inning off an RBI double and a Richmond throwing error plated two runs.

Richmond starter Kai-Wei Teng settled in after the first and held the SeaWolves scoreless through the rest of his night. Teng pitched a season-high 4.2 innings with four hits and two walks allowed with four strikeouts.

The Flying Squirrels will face the SeaWolves Friday with a 6:05 p.m. first pitch from UPMC Park. Right-handed pitcher Ryan Murphy (1-0, 5.31) will start for Richmond opposed by Erie right-hander Wilmer Flores (1-2, 7.17).