Richmond (36-37, 3-1), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, collected its third win of the road trip and held Reading (29-43, 1-3), the Double-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, to four hits.
Mason Black (Win, 1-4) fired five perfect innings and tied a season-high eight strikeouts, including striking out five of the final nine batters he faced. Black extended his scoreless streak to 22.2 consecutive innings and has not allowed a run over his last five starts.
Jimmy Glowenke opened the scoring in the fourth inning when he torched a two-run homer to left field, his first Double-A home run, giving Richmond a 2-0 advantage.
Facing David Parkinson (Loss, 2-4) in the fifth, Wade Meckler drove a fly ball to left field and dashed around the bases for an inside-the-park home run, pushing the Flying Squirrels to a 3-0 lead. It marked the first Double-A homer for Meckler and he has reached base in all 20 Double-A games he has played.
Meckler is the fourth player in Flying Squirrels franchise history to hit an inside-the-park homer, joining Brandon Crawford who notched one in 2010, Tyler Graham in 2014 and Tyler Fitzgerald in 2022.
Simon Whiteman padded the Richmond lead to 4-0 in the top of the sixth with an RBI double to center field.
Richmond reliver Spencer Bivens covered two scoreless frames, allowing one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. Evan Gates struck out three consecutive hitters in the bottom of the eighth.
Oliver Dunn broke the shutout in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-1. Jose Cruz responded with a strikeout to close out the victory.
The Flying Squirrels continue the series against the Fightin Phils Sunday night with first pitch set for 5:15 p.m. Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (0-0, 5.91) will make the start for Richmond opposed by Reading right-hander Tyler Phillips (3-4, 5.34).
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