Fitzgerald hits fifth homer in last six games, but Richmond loses Sunday finale

The Richmond Flying Squirrels lost for the fourth straight game, falling to the Altoona Curve, 8-3, on Sunday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

After winning the first two games of the series, the Flying Squirrels (46-41, 6-12) dropped the final four games in the series against the Curve (45-42, 12-6).

Altoona broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the third inning with four runs. Fabricio Macias hit a two-run double to give Altoona the lead and Matt Fraizer hit a two-run homer to extend the lead to 5-1 against Richmond starter Kai-Wei Teng (Loss, 5-7).

In the fourth, Altoona scored a run on a groundout to push the lead to 6-1.

Shane Matheny hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to pull Richmond within four runs, but Jared Triolo hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to open an 8-2 lead.

The Flying Squirrels brought the score to 8-3 in the eighth inning when Sean Roby grounded into a force out to score Jacob Heyward from third.

The Curve struck for the first run of the game in the first inning with a sacrifice fly by Macias.

Tyler Fitzgerald hit a solo homer to tie the game, 1-1, against Altoona starter Carmen Mlodzinski (Win, 3-5) in the top of the second inning. It was the fourth homer of the series for Fitzgerald and his fifth in the last six games.

The Flying Squirrels and the rest of the Eastern League are off for the mid-season break from Monday through Thursday. They will return to the field on Friday night at The Diamond to begin a three-game series against the Bowie Baysox. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.