The Richmond Flying Squirrels (52-58) squeezed past the Portland Sea Dogs (54-56), 3-2, on a rainy Wednesday night at The Diamond. The victory was the third straight for the Squirrels as they also claimed the three-game series.
The Sea Dogs helped the Squirrels to an early lead, committing three errors behind right-hander Matt Barnes in the first inning. The first was charged to shortstop Heiker Meneses on a ground ball from lead-off batter Ryan Lollis. An out later, Javier Herrera reached on catcher’s interference to put two aboard. Mark Minicozzi followed with an RBI single to right field to bring in Lollis for a 1-0 lead.
Richmond lefty Jack Snodgrass held off the Sea Dogs through the first three innings. However, they were able to manufacture a run to tie the ballgame in the fourth. Tony Thomas started the inning with a single and promptly stole second base. He was bunted to third base and scored ahead of a throw to the plate on a fielder’s choice ground ball from Travis Shaw.
Portland grabbed their first lead and chased Quirarte from the ballgame in the sixth inning. Christian Vazquez cracked a one-out single back through the middle. Shaw followed and laced a double through the alley in left-center field.
Snodgrass did not factor in the decision, working 5 1/3 innings. He was charged with two earned runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out three.
Adam Duvall tied the ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, he blasted an opposite-field home run to right field off Barnes. His 11th of the season, and second of the series, knotted the ballgame, 2-2.
Barnes didn’t register a decision, departing after 5 2/3 innings. He surrendered two runs, one earned, on four hits, walked three and struck out seven.
Richmond snatched the lead back in the seventh, plating a run against righty Miguel Celestino (1-7). Ryan Lollis drew a lead-off walk and Joe Panik bunted him to second. Lollis moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Javier Herrera cracked a triple to the wall in right-center field. The run capped the scoring for the evening, 3-2. Celestino was saddled with the loss for Portland.
The Squirrels’ bullpen was stout in relief. Three hurlers combined to retire 11 consecutive batters to finish the ballgame behind Snodgrass. Right-hander Edwin Quirarte (2-5) followed Snodgrass and set aside all eight batters that he faced. He earned his second win of the year. Lefty Phil McCormick got the first out of the ninth and right-hander Cody Hall came on to nail it down. Hall earned his fifth save of the year.
The finale of the three-game series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Thursday night at The Diamond. Richmond LHP Chris Gloor (8-5, 3.53) will make the start against Portland RHP Mike McCarthy (1-3, 6.03). The Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup will begin at 6:35 p.m. on Sports Radio 910, SportsRadio910.com and IHeart Radio.
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Chris Graham
