The Richmond Flying Squirrels (40-44) jumped out early and held on late, dumping the Akron Aeros (49-35), 7-5, at Canal Park on Wednesday night. With the win, the Squirrels finished their eight-day road trip at a mark of 4-4. They took the series with Akron, winning three of the four ballgames.
Gary Brown once again got the Squirrels started in a hurry, opening the ballgame with a double into the left-field corner off of right-hander Brett Brach. Nick Liles, the hero on Monday night, then singled into right field for a 1-0 lead.
Akron also plated a first inning run to tie the game back up. Richmond left-hander Chris Gloor walked the lead-off batter, Jordan Henry. He advanced to third on back-to-back ground outs and scored on a wild-pitch. The Aeros were able to even the ballgame without a hit.
Richmond jumped right back in front in the second. Ehire Adrianza laced a one-out single into right field and Johnny Monell followed with a single. After a walk to Ryan Cavan, Brown bounced into a fielder’s choice to bring in Adrianza for a 2-1 lead.
The Squirrels busted out to break the game open in the third. Juan Perez led off and drilled a solo-home run to right-center field. It was just the beginning for the Squirrels as they took it to Brach. Tommy Joseph followed with a double through the alley in right-center field. Russ Mitchell then punched a double into the right-field corner, scoring Joseph. A batter later, Adrianza contributed his second single, bringing in Mitchell. Monell then capped the inning, belting a towering-home run over the bleachers in right field. The two-run blast was Monell’s sixth of the year and second in as many nights. It put Richmond in front, 7-1.
Brach (3-4) retired to the loss after four innings. He was charged with seven earned runs on 11 hits. He walked one and struck out three.
Gloor departed one out shy of being eligible for the win. He worked 4 2/3 innings, allowing a lone unearned run on just three hits, walking three and striking out six. Right-hander Jake Dunning came on to clean up the fifth inning for him.
The Aeros got a run off of Dunning in the sixth inning. However, Dunning (2-1) earned the win over 2 1/3 innings of relief.
Akron got back in the ballgame with three runs in the eighth inning. Left-hander Ari Ronick was charged with the three runs, which included a two-run home run from Nick Weglarz into the right-field bleachers. Right-hander Daryl Maday came on to finish the eighth and survived a scare with the tying runs aboard for the Aeros.
Right-hander Edwin Quirarte entered to work the ninth. He walked the lead-off man, but retired the next three batters to preserve the win. Quirarte was credited with his first save of the season.
The Aeros picked up a run against Dunning in the sixth as Chun Chen and Nick Weglarz contributed consecutive singles to start the inning. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Jeremie Tice grounded into a run-scoring double-play. The Aeros pulled within five runs, trailing 7-2.
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Chris Graham
