Squirrels maul B-Mets

Austin Slater launched a pair of homers and Andrew Suarez hurled seven innings to pace the Squirrels (14-31) to a 11-2 rout over Binghamton on Wednesday night at NYSEG stadium.

Slater and teammate Tyler Horan both collected three of the Flying Squirrels 16 hits in the win. It was the first multi-homer game of Slater’s career. Suarez earned his first Double-A win by scattering eight hits over seven innings of work.

The Squirrels attempt to win the four-game series on Thursday at 10:35 AM in Binghamton. Richmond will return to The Diamond on Tuesday, May 31st with a Silver Squirrels Night. Please note the Flying Squirrels office will be closed Friday through Monday in honor of Memorial Day. The full promotionalschedule can be found here.

Rando Moreno put the Squirrels on the board with an RBI single to left field in the second inning. Tyler Horan opened the frame by beating the shift with an infield single and Hunter Cole advance him to second on a line drive past the second baseman. Moreno then connected on the base hit, softly dropping intoright field for the run.

The B-Mets threatened to retaliate in the bottom of the second against lefty Andrew Suarez. Matt Oberste led off with a single, but was cut down trying to steal with one out by catcher Ben Turner. Jared King then followed with a double and L.J Mazilli walked to put a pair of runner son. Suarez induced a fly ball out off the bat of Philip Evans to end the threat.

TheSquirrels continued their early barrage against Rainy Lara with two more runs in the top of the third inning. Christian Arroyo singled to extended his hitting streak to a season-high eight games and Austin Slater launched a two –run homer to right field to take a 3-0 lead.

The B-Mets continued to apply pressure on Suarez and got a run back in the bottom of the third. Jared King worked a walk an L.J. Mazilli followed with a base hit. Phillip Evens then singled with two outs to make it a 3-1 game. The B-Mets then opted to pinch hit for Lara with two runners aboard and Suarez induced a ground ball to end the inning. Lara (2-5) went just four innings and allowed the three runs on five hits with one walk and no strikeouts in the loss.

Lara was replaced by Logan Taylor to start the fifth. Taylor promptly allowed the second home run of the day to Austin Slater for a 4-1 Richmond edge. It was the fifth home run of the season for Slater and his first multi-homer game of his career. Slater added another base hit in the seventh inning and a sacrifice fly in the eighth to add to his hallmark day.

The early lead worked in favor of Suarez who earned his first win as a member of the Flying Squirrels. Suarez maneuvered around runners on base in each of the first six innings. The Southpaw saved the best for last as he set the side down in order in his seventh and final frame. He struck out the final two batters and needed just 87 pitches over seven innings in the win.

Richmond tacked on three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Slater delivered his third hit of the day for a 5-1 lead and Tyler Horan ripped a double to left to take a 6-1 advantage. A wild pitch scored Slater to finish the scoring in the seventh. B-Mets reliever Tim Peterson struggled in his return to the Eastern League. Peterson gave up three straight hits to open the eighth, leading to three more runs and a 10-1 lead. Christian Arroyo drove in a run with the bases loaded on a ground out and Slater added his fourth RBI via a sacrifice fly. Horan connected on another hit for the 10-1 route.