The Richmond Flying Squirrels (22-24) took their second straight victory over the Bowie Baysox (18-27), 6-2, on Wednesday night at Prince George’s Stadium.
After two scoreless innings, the Squirrels broke through first against Bowie right-hander Zach Clark in the third inning. Wendell Fairley sparked Richmond with a one-out single. Gary Brown followed with a single and Ryan Cavan gave the Squirrels a 1-0 lead when he slapped a single back through the middle.
Bowie hurriedly tied the ballgame with their own run in the third against left-hander Mike Kickham. Kickham walked rehabbing Orioles’ second baseman Brian Roberts for the second time in the ballgame to start the inning. Buck Britton followed and rifled a double into the right-field corner. Roberts raced around from first to score and tie the game, 1-1.
Richmond broke back on top in the sixth inning, notching two runs off of Clark. The rally came with two outs and was sparked by a bunt-single from Ehire Adrianza. Jose Flores followed and sent a hard-groundball to first base. Robbie Widlansky couldn’t handle it, and the ball ricocheted off his wrist into foul-territory. Adrianza scampered to third base, while Flore took second on the error. Fairley then looped a two-run single just fair inside the left-field foul line for a 3-1 lead. Both runs were unearned against Clark.
Kickham (3-4) technically departed with the lead after the fifth inning and earned his third win of the season. He was charged with just a lone run on three hits, walked three and struck out seven. Kickham struck out five of the final seven batters that he faced.
Clark (3-4) left after his trouble in the sixth inning and was doomed to the loss. He was charged with three runs – one earned – on eight hits. He walked two, struck out five and turned in his seventh consecutive quality start.
The Baysox got an unearned run off of right-hander Jake Dunning in the seventh inning, closing to one run. However, Dunning escaped further trouble and ultimately turned in three strong innings of relief.
The Squirrels put the game out of reach with three runs against right-hander Sean Gleason. They scored one in the eighth when Fairley sent a sacrifice-fly to left field to plate Juan Perez. In the ninth inning, Daniel Mayora belted his first home run of the season to left-center field. Johnny Monell added an RBI double to cap the scoring, 6-2. Fairley finished the ballgame 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
Right-hander Brett Bochy nailed down the win in a non-save situation, posting a perfect ninth inning.
The series finale is scheduled for 7:05 PM on Thursday night at Prince George’s Stadium. Richmond RHP Justin Fitzgerald (3-2, 4.44) will make the start against Bowie RHP Tim Bascom (3-2, 4.38). Pregame coverage will begin at 6:35 PM on Sports Radio 910 and SportsRadio910.com.
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Chris Graham
