Richmond comes up short in back-and-forth game in Portland

The Richmond Flying Squirrels fell, 5-4, in 10 innings to open the series at Hadlock Field against the Portland Sea Dogs on Tuesday night.

The Flying Squirrels (51-51, 11-22) came from behind three separate times but allowed two runs in the 10 to the Sea Dogs (50-53) to lose the first game of the series.

Michael Gigliotti led off the 10th with a sacrifice bunt that moved Carter Aldrete to third base. Tyler Fitzgerald lofted a sacrifice fly to right-center field, bringing in Aldrete and gave Richmond its first lead of the ballgame at 4-3.

Portland answered in the bottom of the 10th with a sacrifice fly by Christian Koss to tie the game, 4-4, and won it with a walk-off single by Alex Binelas against Richmond reliever Nick Avila.

Trailing by a run in the seventh inning, Armani Smith hammered a solo home run to right field that tied the game, 3-3. It was his second home run of the season and the 13th homer for the Flying Squirrels over the long road trip.

Reliever Clay Helvey tossed two scoreless innings with three strikeouts over the seventh and eighth. Taylor Rashi (Loss, 1-3) fired a 1-2-3 ninth inning to push the game to extra innings.

The Sea Dogs jumped in front, 1-0, in the first inning when Koss dribbled an RBI single to second base.

Richmond evened the score in the second inning when Sean Roby brought home Brett Auerbach off an RBI single.

After a triple by David Hamilton to lead off the third inning, Wilyer Abreu bounced into a groundout that scored Hamilton and gave the Sea Dogs a 2-1 advantage.

The Flying Squirrels fought back to tie the game at 2-2 off an RBI single from Roby in the fourth. It was his team-leading 50th RBI of the season.

Portland reclaimed the lead at 3-2 in the fourth inning when Elih Marrero punched an RBI single to center field off Wil Jensen. Jensen finished the night with a quality start, allowing three runs over six innings and struck out five.

The Flying Squirrels will take on the Sea Dogs on Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. Right-hander Matt Frisbee (5-7, 5.25) will make the start for Richmond opposed by right-hander Thad Ward (0-0, 0.00) for Portland.

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.