The Richmond Flying Squirrels (47-44) utilized a pair of solid pitching performances from lefties Kelvin Marte and Matt Gage to sweep a doubleheader 2-0 and 2-1 over Altoona (49-43) on Friday night at The Diamond. Marte hurled a complete game, seven inning shutout in the opener and Gage earned the win in his Double-A debut with five solid innings in the sequel.
In the opener, the Squirrels took advantage of an early Altoona miscue to plate the only two runs of the game. Rando Moreno reached on a one-out infield single in the first inning. Hunter Cole then lined a ball to left that was dropped by the left fielder Jose Osuna to move Moreno to third base and Mitch Delfino drove him home with a groundout to second. Cole was then brought home on a single to center from Ricky Oropesa. The base hit generated the 50th RBI of the year for Oropesa.
Squirrels All-Star Kelvin Marte used the early runs to cruise to a complete game shutout. Marte (8-2) needed just 31 pitches through the first three innings and allowed just five hits and two walks overall in the winning effort. Marte struck out one batter in seven innings of work. The contest took just one hour and twenty six minutes to complete.
Altoona starting pitcher Chad Kuhl leveled out after the unearned runs in the first frame to battle Marte the rest of the way. Kuhl worked six innings and allowed the two runs (unearned) on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. He allowed just one runner past first base after the first inning in the complete game loss.
In game two, the Curve pushed across a run in the first inning against LHP Matt Gage in his Double-A debut. With two outs, the Curve connected on three consecutive base hits from Josh Bell, Jose Osuna and Dan Gamache to give Altoona a 1-0 lead. Gage induced a groundout from Stetson Allie and was able to strand a pair of runners to limit the damage.
Richmond grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Myles Schroder singled and advanced to second when the centerfielder Andy Vasquez fumbled the ball. Schroder was then thrown out trying to take third base on a grounder to short from Devin Harris. Mitch Delfino followed with a base hit to push Benedict from the game at the first sign of trouble. Altoona lefty Jeremy Bleich replaced Benedict with runners aboard and yielded consecutive run producing singles to Ricky Oropesa and Engle Beltre.
Benedict (4-4) had been in command through three innings by retiring the first nine batters he faced. He held the Squirrels hitless until Myles Schroder singled to lead off the fourth. The Curve starter finished with a line of: 3.2 IP, 2H, 2R, 0BB, K.
Gage (1-0) earned the win for Richmond in his first game above the Low-A level. He worked out of trouble in the second and again in the fifth inning. The lefty stranded six runners on seven hits over six innings in the victory. He ended his outing in the fifth frame with a pair of weak groundball outs and a strikeout of Jose Osuna.
The Squirrels continue the homestand on Saturday with game four of the series against the Altoona Curve beginning at6:05 PM. Richmond LHP Adalberto Mejia (4-1, 2.78) will face Altoona LHP Steven Brault (1-3, 4.74). The Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup will begin at 5:30 PM on Fox Sports 910 and FoxSportsRichmond.com.
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Chris Graham
