Richmond shut out, again, at Altoona, losing 4-0 on Friday night

The Richmond Flying Squirrels were blanked by the Altoona Curve, 4-0, on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

The Flying Squirrels (51-49, 18-13), the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have been shut out by the Curve (47-49, 13-15), the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, three times in four games in this week’s series.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the eighth inning. Carter Bins broke the tie with a two-run homer against Richmond reliever Mat Olsen (Loss, 0-1). Later in the inning, Jackson Glenn hit an RBI triple and Tsung-Che Cheng brought in a run with a single to extend the Curve lead to 4-0.

Oliver Garcia (Win, 6-2) worked the final two innings to close the game.

Richmond starter John Michael Bertrand threw five scoreless innings and struck out four. Flying Squirrels starting pitchers have combined for 18 scoreless innings in this week’s series.

The series continues on Saturday night at PNG Field. Right-hander Hayden Birdsong will make his Double-A debut for Richmond. Right-hander Aaron Shortridge (5-7, 5.34) will start for Altoona. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.