Richmond blows two-run lead in ninth, loses in extras to Altoona, 5-4

The Richmond Flying Squirrels held a two-run lead into the ninth inning but fell to the Altoona Curve, 5-4, in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon at The Diamond.

The Flying Squirrels (25-31), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, allowed four straight runs to the Curve (30-25), the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and ended the series with a split.

In the top of the ninth inning, Abrahan Gutierrez blasted a two-run homer to even the score, 4-4, against Richmond reliever Jose Cruz.

Jimmy Glowenke hit a single to lead off the bottom of the ninth but Travis MacGregor (Win, 4-0) responded with three consecutive strikeouts to force extra innings.

The Curve started the 10th inning with two straight bunts against Blake Rivera (Loss, 1-2), including a sacrifice bunt to score Matt Fraizer from third, to capture a 5-4 advantage.

MacGregor held the Flying Squirrels scoreless with three flyouts and completed the Altoona comeback win.

With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Wade Meckler lined a single against Altoona starter Kyle Nicolas. In the next at-bat, Marco Luciano demolished a two-run home run to center field and pushed Richmond to a 2-0 lead.

Luciano has reached base in eight of his last 10 plate appearances and finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

The Curve trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth inning off an RBI single from Mason Martin.

Carter Williams and Hayden Cantrelle gathered back-to-back base hits to place runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh. Simon Whiteman drove in both runners with a two-RBI double to left field and upped the Richmond advantage to 4-1.

Altoona answered back with an RBI single from Liover Peguero to move the score to 4-2 in the eighth. It was the only run Carson Seymour allowed over four innings out of the bullpen with three looking strikeouts.

Richmond starter Landen Roupp racked up seven strikeouts, matching a season-high, over four innings with one run and three hits allowed.

The Flying Squirrels are off Monday before facing the Bowie Baysox, Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, for a six-game road series on Tuesday. Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (0-0, 0.00) will make the start for Richmond against Bowie right-hander Houston Roth (1-2, 6.38). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday from Prince George’s Stadium.

The Flying Squirrels will be back home from June 20-25 to face the Harrisburg Senators, Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. On June 20, the team celebrates one of Richmond’s most iconic neighborhoods with The Fan Community Night and the first 1,000 fans ages 15 and older will go home with a folding fan presented by Richmond Virginia Orthodontics.

Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.