Richmond (37-37, 4-1), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, clinched a series win over Reading (29-44, 1-4), the Double-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, and has won 10-of-its-last-12 games.
The Flying Squirrels jumped ahead, 3-0, in the top of the first inning against Reading starter Tyler Phillips (Loss, 3-5). With runners at second and third and one out, Andy Thomas lofted a sacrifice fly to left field to Richmond a one-run lead.
Carter Williams and Jimmy Glowenke followed with RBI singles to push the Flying Squirrels’ advantage to three runs.
Richmond starter Carson Whisenhunt issued a career-high five walks but responded with four strikeouts over two scoreless innings. Whisenhunt led off the third with a walk and was replaced in the third by Ben Madison, who induced a double play and a flyout in his Double-A debut.
Thomas blasted a solo home run in the sixth to extend the Richmond lead to 4-0. Thomas finished the game with two RBIs over four plate appearances and has collected 11 RBIs over his last six games.
After Shane Matheny lined a two-out single to push Simon Whiteman over to second base in the seventh, the pair executed a double steal and a Reading throwing error scored Whiteman to give the Flying Squirrels a 5-0 advantage.
Reliever Raymond Burgos (Win, 4-2) covered three scoreless innings with one hit allowed and three strikeouts.
The Fightin Phils broke the shutout in the bottom of the eighth when Johan Rojas drove a solo home run to left field and cut the deficit to 5-1.
Glowenke responded with his own solo home run in the top of the ninth inning to pad the Flying Squirrels advantage to 6-1, his second straight game with a homer.
Reliever Blake Rivera fired a strikeout and a pair of flyouts in a scoreless ninth inning to give Richmond its fourth win of the road trip.
The game was delayed twice due to rain, totaling one hour and six minutes.
The Flying Squirrels conclude the road trip Monday with first scheduled for 6:45 p.m. against Reading. Right-hander Ryan Murphy (1-4, 4.42) will make the start for Richmond opposed by Reading left-hander Josh Hendrickson (1-5, 5.60).
The Flying Squirrels Independence Day celebration is sold out, marking the 13th consecutive sellout on July 4 games since the franchise’s first year in 2010. Tickets remain for the rest of the homestand, including Wednesday where fans can enjoy an evening of tricks, jumps and entertainment with the Dynamo Dogs. Fans can also enjoy Wine and K-9s with five-dollar glasses of wine and six-dollar wine slushies from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Plus, dogs are admitted free to every Wednesday home game. In-Your-Face fireworks will be featured after Thursday and Saturday’s home games.
Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
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Chris Graham
