Despite a pair of home runs by the offense and 10 strikeouts for starter Kai-Wei Teng, the Richmond Flying Squirrels fell, 6-3, to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Saturday night at Delta Dental Stadium.
The Flying Squirrels (50-50, 10-21) homered twice, moving their season total to 127, which ties the franchise’s single-season record, which was set in 2021.
New Hampshire (47-54, 16-16) captured a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Luis De Los Santos hit a solo home run against Teng.
Teng shined after the first, striking out 10 batters over five innings and picked off a runner at first base.
Facing a full count and on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Carter Aldrete blasted a solo home run to right-center field to even the score, 1-1, in the seventh inning. It was Aldrete’s second home run of the road trip.
Randy Rodriguez (Loss, 0-1) pitched a scoreless sixth inning with a strikeout but allowed an RBI single by Sebastian Espino in the seventh to give the Fisher Cats a 2-1 lead. New Hampshire piled five total runs in the seventh inning to move ahead, 6-1.
Brandon Martorano propelled a two-run homer to right field in the ninth inning to cut the deficit to 6-3, but Richmond could not complete the comeback after a double play to end the game.
It was Martorano’s eighth home run of the season and Richmond’s seventh of the series.
Fisher Cats starter Andrew Moore struck out six batters in 5.1 scoreless innings despite allowing six hits. Jake Elliot (Win, 4-0) held the Flying Squirrels scoreless over 1.2 innings out of the bullpen.
The series concludes Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. Left-hander Jake Dahlberg (4-7, 4.28) will make the start for Richmond opposed by right-hander Luis Quinones (0-2, 4.07)
The Flying Squirrels return home from Aug. 16-21 to face the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets. On Tuesday, Aug. 16, it is Salute to the Peanut Night at The Diamond and the first 1,000 fans 15 and older will go home with a Peanut T-shirt presented by Virginia Peanut Farmers Association. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with gates opening at 5:30 p.m.
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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