The Richmond Flying Squirrels were held to five hits and gave up an early advantage in a 4-2 loss to the Erie SeaWolves Saturday afternoon at UPMC Park.
Richmond (16-15), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, dropped out of first place with the loss and Erie (17-15) overtook them in the Southwest Division standings.
Held hitless until two outs in the fifth inning, Simon Whiteman collected an infield single and Ismael Munguia doubled to place runners at second and third. Luis Matos drove an RBI single to right field, scoring Whiteman and pushed the Flying Squirrels to a 1-0 lead.
The SeaWolves evened the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the fifth when Ben Malgeri knocked an RBI single against Richmond reliever Spencer Bivens (Loss, 0-1).
With two on and two out in the sixth inning, Grant Witherspoon rocketed a two-run double to left field and propelled the SeaWolves to a 3-1 advantage.
The SeaWolves padded the lead to 4-1 when Dillon Dingler batted an RBI single against Randy Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the top of the ninth, Carter Williams drove in Brett Auerbach from third base off a groundout to cut the deficit to 4-2. Angel De Jesus (Save, 2) responded with a strikeout to close out the game and secure the SeaWolves victory.
The Erie bullpen held the Flying Squirrels to three baserunners through the final four innings. Dario Gardea (Win, 2-2) struck out the side in order in the sixth inning. Andrew Magno worked a scoreless seventh and eighth inning with a walk and a strikeout.
Richmond starter Carson Seymour worked four scoreless innings with two hits, two walks and induced two double plays.
Erie starting pitcher Brant Hurter totaled seven strikeouts over five innings with one run allowed and hit three batters.
The road trip concludes Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. Right-hander Landen Roupp (0-0, 0.00) will make his second start of the year for Richmond opposed by Erie right-hander Keider Montero (1-0, 3.20).
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Chris Graham
