Harrisburg’s home runs hurt Squirrels in opener

The Harrisburg Senators (27-38) swatted three home runs on Friday, taking game one of the series over Richmond by a final of 9-6 at FNB Field. Richmond (27-39) out-hit Harrisburg 13-12 and had runners on base in every inning in the defeat. Slade Heathcott smacked his 11th home run of the season and had three hits in the contest. Richmond has lost five straight and will play game two of the series on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Harrisburg’s newest acquisition Darion Sandford put the Senators on the board in the first inning. Utilizing his blinding speed, Sandford rolled a soft ground ball to short, resulting in an infield base hit. He promptly stole second and advanced to third base via a wild pitch. Jose Marmolejos brought him home for the 1-0 lead on a chopped ball to first base. Johnson also walked a pair of batters in the inning, but held the Senators to just one run on 19 pitches.

Johnson encountered some more difficulty in the second inning, with Richmond-native Alec Keller reaching on a one-out base hit. Osvaldo Abreu then drilled a two-run homer over the left center field wall to give Harrisburg a 3-0 lead. It was the third home run of the season for Abreu and the sixth allowed by Johnson.

The Squirrels returned fire with a two-run shot of their own in the third inning. Myles Schroder reached base on a hit by pitch and Slade Heathcott stepped up and drilled a home run over the right field wall to pull to within a run, 3-2. It was the team-leading 11th homer of the season for the veteran Heathott.

Harrisburg homered two more times in the third inning to forge ahead, 6-2. Marmolejos drilled a solo shot to begin the inning and Raudy Read added a deep two-run blast.

Despite the homers, Johnson stuck around and lasted 5.1 innings in the defeat. The righty allowed eight runs on eight hits. He struck to six and walked four. Christian Jones entered with runners on in the sixth and allowed an inherited runner and a run of his own over 0.2 innings. He used 32 pitches in the effort.

The Squirrels continued to attack throughout the night. C.J. Hinojosa gathered four hits, including an RBI double in the ninth inning.

Carlos Alvarado tossed the seventh inning and Ryan Halstead pitched the eighth for Richmond.