Richmond Flying Squirrels outlast Akron RubberDucks in wild extra-inning affair, 6-5

The Richmond Flying Squirrels held off a late charge by the Akron RubberDucks to pick up a 6-5 win in 11 innings on Saturday night at Canal Park.

The Flying Squirrels (45-44, 12-8), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning and outlasted one last push by the RubberDucks (45-44, 10-10), the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, in the bottom of the inning.

In top of the 11th, Shane Matheny scored on an Akron error to move Richmond ahead, 4-3. Two batters later, Jimmy Glowenke drove a two-run homer to center against Trey Benton (Loss, 1-2) , extending the lead to 6-3.

Akron closed the score to 6-5 in the bottom of the 11th with a two-run homer by Johnathan Rodriguez, his second homer of the game. Juan Brito reached on a single to put the potential tying run on base, but Juan Sanchez (Win, 6-4) worked a double play from Micael Ramirez to end the game.

With Richmond ahead, 3-0, entering the bottom of the ninth, Angel Martinez rocketed a two-run homer against Richmond reliever Jose Cruz to make it a one-run game. The next batter, Johnathan Rodriguez, crushed a solo home run to right field and evened the score, 3-3.

The Flying Squirrels went scoreless in the top of the 10th when Akron reliever Bradley Hanner posted a flyout and induced a double play.

Facing Sanchez in the bottom of the 10th, a double steal put runners at second and third with one out. Sanchez sizzled two consecutive strikeouts to keep the game tied.

With two outs in the top of the second inning, Andy Thomas cracked a double against Akron starter Jack Leftwitch for Richmond’s first hit. In the next at-bat, Logan Wyatt rocketed a double to right field and scored Thomas to push the Flying Squirrels in front, 1-0.

Glowenke and Wade Meckler executed a double steal to put runners at second and third in the fifth. Ismael Munguia drove in both runners with a double and extended the Richmond advantage to 3-0.

Starting pitcher Carson Whisenhunt worked four scoreless innings and racked up five strikeouts in his outing. Whisenhunt ended his start striking out four of the final six batters he faced.

Reliever Parker Dunshee followed with two scoreless innings and picked off two baserunners. Raymond Burgos allowed back-to-back hits to start the seventh but collected a double play and a strikeout to hold the RubberDucks scoreless.

The Flying Squirrels wrap up the series against the RubberDucks Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 2:05 p.m. from Canal Park. Right-hander John Michael Bertrand (1-0, 3.60) will start for Richmond opposed by Akron right-hander Hunter Stanley (3-7, 5.35).