Squirrels first baseman Chris Shaw pounded his first Double-A home run, and righty Kyle Crick turned in six scoreless innings as Richmond (33-52) defeated the Reading Fightin Phils (61-25), 9-0 on Wednesday night at The Diamond.
Crick improved to 2-7 on the season and earned his first win since April 12th, also against Reading. Shaw smacked the homer in the first, a two-run shot, providing the early boost for Richmond.
Crick was effectively wild on Wednesday while dealing with the Eastern League’s top offense. Crick allowed just one hit, a game-opening double to Jesmuel Valentin, and worked around five walks to earn his second win of the season.
Richmond grabbed the lead in the first inning for the third consecutive night against Reading. With two outs in the first, C.J Hinojosa singled off of Phils starter Tyler Viza. Chris Shaw then worked the count to 2-0 and drilled the next pitch over the right center field wall for his first Double-A homer. Shaw has been on fire since his promotion from Advanced-A San Jose last week. The slugger has already picked up nine RBIs in just seven games played.
Reading’s Jesuel Valentine opened the game with a jam-shot double over the third base bag off Richmond starter Kyle Crick. Crick popped up KC Serna, but then walked Jorge Alfaro to put a pair of runners on. Teetering early, Crick then induced a double play to end the inning.
The Phils had Crick on the run again in the second inning but could not cash in on a pair of walks. Crick walked Rhys Hoskins and Jake Fox to open the second, but he wriggled out of trouble to keep the Squirrels 2-0 lead intact. After the walk to Fox, Crickretired nine consecutive batters to bring the game into the middle innings. He once again issued a walk to start a frame, this time in the fifth, but retired the next three hitters to keep Reading off the board. Crick replicated the act in the sixth and finished the outing with 98 pitches. Crick yielded just one hit and walked a season-high tying five in the victory. Christian Jones replaced Crick with a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning and tossed a 1-2-3 frame.
Reading’s Viza was not phased by the homer run to Shaw in the first and worked his way through the Squirrels lineup through the middle innings without incident. Darren Ford picked up a two-out hit in the second, and Christian Arroyo lined a one-out single in the sixth in between 11 consecutive batters retired.Viza used just 75 pitches through the first six innings and was called upon to start the seventh. The righty stumbled in the frame and allowed a solo home run to Hunter Cole to make it a 3-0 contest. The Squirrels forced Viza from the game in the seventh and added four runs to grab a 6-0 advantage. Reading walked in two runs with the bases loaded in the inning.
Richmond continued the assault on Reading with a three-run eighth to put the game out of reach, 9-0. Brandon Bednar delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double and Steven Duggar followed up with an RBI triple.
The Squirrels bullpen of Jones, Ray Black, Matt Reynolds and Rodolfo Martinez complete the seventh shutout of the season for Richmond. The Squirrels improved to 4-5 against Reading on the year.
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Chris Graham
