Richmond Flying Squirrels drop tight 2-1 decision to Akron RubberDucks on Wednesday

A late comeback effort fizzled for the Richmond Flying Squirrels in a narrow 2-1 loss to the Akron RubberDucks on Wednesday night at Canal Park.

The Flying Squirrels (43-43, 10-7), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, outhit the RubberDucks (44-42, 9-8), the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, 5-3, but struck out 12 times against three Akron pitchers in the loss.

Akron moved ahead, 2-0, in the second inning when Johnathan Rodriguez drove in two runs with a single to center field. Richmond starter Ryan Murphy (Loss, 1-7) held the RubberDucks scoreless through the rest of his outing, racking up six strikeouts over four innings and allowed just one hit.

Richmond totaled three baserunners and struck out seven times against Akron starter Will Dion (Win, 2-1) across six innings. Dion set down 12 consecutive batters to end his start and struck out four of the final nine batters faced.

Donovan Walton broke the scoring drought with a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to cut the deficit to 2-1. Walton has homered in back-to-back games against the RubberDucks and extended his hit streak to four consecutive games.

Flying Squirrels reliever Spencer Bivens covered 2.2 scoreless innings with two hits allowed and threw 31 of his 40 total pitches for strikes.

Richmond’s best chance to tie the score was in the eighth with two runners on and two outs, but Akron called in reliever Franco Aleman (Save, 1) and he notched a strikeout for a scoreless frame.

Juan Sanchez set down all four batters he faced over 1.1 innings, including a three-up-three-down bottom of the eighth.

Aleman fired in two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the RubberDucks victory.

The Flying Squirrels continue the series against the RubberDucks Thursday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

Right-hander Carson Seymour (1-2, 3.91) will start for Richmond opposed by Akron right-hander Tanner Burns (3-3, 3.54).