Flying Squirrels first baseman Chris Shaw ended a rain lengthened evening, looping a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth to secure a 6-5 Richmond (34-52) win over Reading (61-26) on Thursday night at The Diamond.
Rain interrupted the game for a 102 minutes, leading Shaw’s game-winner to arrive at 11:45 PM.
The Flying Squirrels erased an early 3-0 deficit and used a quality start from Sam Coonrod to finish off a 6-5 win to take the series against the Reading Fightin Phils. Coonrod hurled six innings and allowed just three runs – all in the first – in a no-decision. The Squirrels finished the series with three wins in four contests and improved to 5-5 vs. Reading this year.
Reading muscled their way to that 3-0 lead in the first inning with a pair of home runs. Andrew Pullin, fresh off the disabled list, stroked a solo home run over the right centerfield wall for a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Jorge Alfaro, followed with a drive to right to give the Phils a 2-0 advantage. Squirrels starter Sam Coonrod then struck out Dylan Cozens, but walked Rhys Hoskins to continue the inning. Hoskins stole second base and came around to score on a double by Harold Martinez. Coonrod needed 26 pitches to get through the first frame.
Pitching with a 3-0 lead, Phils starting pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. worked quickly to set down the Squirrels early on. Darren Ford reached on an infield single in the first and Steven Duggar singled in the third for the only two hits through three innings. Leiter Jr. set the side down in order in the fourth an was sailing until anerror knocked him off course.
Ryder Jones opened the fifth inning with a groundball to second baseman Angelo Mora. Mora committed a throwing error that opened the door to a three-run inning. Jeff Arnold and Carlos Moncrief both followed with singles to load the bases, and Coonrod delivered the Squirrels first run with a sacrifice fly to center. Steven Duggar added an RBI single to centerfield and C.J Hinojosa tied the game, 3-3 via another sacrifice fly.
Coonrod went to work after the rocky first inning and turned in a quality start. The righty struck out a pair in the second, worked around a base hit in the third and set down nine consecutive batters to end his outing. Coonrod was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the sixth.
The Squirrels took their first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning off Leiter Jr. Jeff Arnold sparked the rally with two outs by smacking a double off the wall to push Leiter from the game. Calros Moncrief then pulled the Squirrels ahead off of reliever Mario Hollands with a base hit to left for a 4-3 Richmond lead. Pinch-hitter Hunter Cole added an RBI base hit to give the Squirrels a 5-3 advantage. Leiter Jr. ended the outing by allowing four runs (two earned), on six hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Tyler Mizenko relieved Coonrod to start the seventh and promptly yielded a home run to Jesmuel Valentin, trimming the Squirrels lead to one, 5-4. Mizenko was working under rainy conditions and walked a pair of batters with two outs before the umpire crew called for the tarp to cover the field.
The game was delayed at 9:15 PM minutes and resumed at 10:57 PM Preston Claiborne took over with two runners on and two outs in the seventh and walked the first batter to load the bases. Claiborne then struck out Harold Martinez to keep the Squirrels lead intact, 5-4. Claiborne returned for the eight inning but relinquished three consecutive hits with two outs to tie the game.
Reading turned to Hoby Milner in the eighth inning. Milner struck out a pair to send the game tied into the ninth inning. Milner came back out for the ninth and allowed a pinch-hit single to Christian Arroyo. Milner struck out the next two hitters but then gave up a single to move Arroyo to third base. That allowed Chris Shaw to come to the plate for the game-winning hit.
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