For the second consecutive night, Ryder Jones crushed a grand slam home run to right field, once again stalling the playoff hopes of the Altoona Curve.
Jones drilled his 15th homer in the fifth inning to lead the Squirrels (62-78), 6-2 over the Curve (75-64). The win for Richmond forces the Curve into a near win-or-don’t get-in playoff scenario on the final day of the season on Monday afternoon at The Diamond. Jones became the third player in franchise history to hit multiple career grand slams joining Ricky Oropesa and Chris Dominguez. Giants top pitching prospect Tyler Beede earned the win by pitching six innings and finishes the year as the Eastern League ERA leader (2.81).
Altoona entered Sunday night once again needing a win to secure a slot in the postseason. After falling in the eighth inning on Friday and the ninth inning on Saturday, it was the fifth inning when the Squirrels exceled on Sunday night. Altoona’s Nick Kingham squared off against Richmond’s Tyler Beede in game three of the series and both hurlers were sharp early on, not allowing a run through the first four innings.
Altoona struck first with a pair of runs against Beede in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Eric Wood reached on ground ball error back to the mound. The next, hitter Stetson Allie, cranked a two-run homer over the right field wall for a 2-0 lead. It was the 16th home run of the season for Allie and it placed him one shy of matching Altoona’s record of 55 career home runs.
Richmond returned fire with a vengeance in the bottom of the fifth. Kingham had not allowed a base runner through the first four innings and was cruising until C.J Hinojosa slapped triple out to right field. Kingham then walked Tyler Horan and Brandon Bednar delivered an RBI single to cut the deficit, 2-1. Kingham continued to struggle with his command in the inning, walking Steve Lerud to load the bases. That allowed Beede to aid his own cause as he lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game, 2-2. Steven Duggar continued the inning with a walk, setting up Ryder Jones with the bases loaded. Jones, for the second time in as many days, lifted a grand slam over the right field wall to pull the Squirrels ahead, 6-2.
The fifth inning was Kingham’s last as he suffered the loss in his 10th start since returning from Tommy John surgery. Kingham (1-1) allowed all six run in the fifth on just three hits. Altoona left-hander and former UVA product Brandon Waddell relieved Kingham and tossed the final three innings for the Curve.
Beede worked around a double in a walk in the top of the sixth inning by inducing a double play and was pulled after six innings of work. Beede (8-7) earned the win by allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out two to lower his ERA to a league-leading 2.81.
The Richmond bullpen of Carlos Alvarado, Rodolfo Martinez and Preston Claiborne finished the game with three scoreless innings. Alvarado struck out the side in the seventh and Claiborne finished the game with an uneventful ninth.
The Squirrels will conclude their seventh season at The Diamond at 12:05 PM on Labor Day. Gates open at 11:00 AM in the season finale on Monday. Left-hander Andrew Suarez is scheduled to make the start for Richmond against Tyler Eppler for Altoona.
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