Squirrels speechless: Drop fifth straight

The Flying Squirrels woes continued Saturday evening, dropping their fifth consecutive game, 6-3 against Harrisburg at FNB Field.

The Squirrels (38-60) hit into four double plays, allowing Harrisburg’s starting pitcher Tyler Mapes to earn the win. The Senators (55-44) Mapes bested Richmond’s Tyler Beede in a duel of Eastern League All-Stars. Darren Ford led the Richmond offense with a pair of hits, including a triple.

The Squirrels stumbled to start the game, allowing three runs to Harrisburg in the bottom of the first. Rafael Bautista opened the inning with a base hit off of Richmond starter Tyler Beede. The next hitter, Andrew Stevenson, hit a double play ball to second, but the Squirrels could not turn two. Stevenson reached on the fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a throwing error. Beede then walked the next two hitters, loading the bases with one out. Beede struck out Drew Ward for the second out and was nearly out of the inning until Isaac Ballou singled a two-strike pitch into the outfield. Stevenson and Difo both scored on the base hit for a 2-0 Harrisburg lead. Spencer Kieboom added an RBI double to take a 3-0 lead. Beede used 31 pitches in the inning.

Double plays were the theme for Harrisburg and pitcher Tyler Mapes on Saturday. Mapes picked up double plays in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings. Despite the twin killings, Richmond was able to tie the game briefly, 3-3 with two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth. Hunter Cole singled in the fourth and advanced to second on a balk. Ryder Jones then delivered an 11-pitch at bat that concluded with an RBI single. Jones took second base on the play and came around to score on a Jeff Arnold single, cutting the deficit to 3-2. The Squirrels pulled even in the fifth and final inning for Mapes. Darren Ford blasted a triple into theright center field gap and was brought in on a ground out off the bat of Christian Arroyo. Mapes was pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth and lasted long enough to earn the win. Mapes (10-6) allowed three runs on five hits. He walked four and struck out two in the victory.

Beede was able to recover after the choppy first inning. The righty worked around two runners on in the second and stranded a leadoff base hit in the third. Beede retired the side in the fourth and set down seven consecutive batters until Wilmer Difowalked with one out in the fifth. Difo was caught stealing second, but Shawn Pleffner also walked to continue the inning. Drew Ward then snapped the 3-3 tie with a home run to deep right field for a 5-3 lead.

Harrisburg added another run on a Spencer Keiboom solo blast to start the sixth. Beede stuck out thefinal two hitters he faced to close out his outing. Tyler Mizenko entered to finish the sixth. Beede (5-6) suffered the loss and allowed six runs on eight hits. He walked four and struck out six on 110 pitches in the outing. Mizenko worked the seventh and Chase Johnson was sharp with a scoreless eighth.

The Senators used two scoreless innings out of the pen from former MLB reliever Justin De Fratus to keep the lead intact. Andrew Robinson entered and earned the save by pitching the ninth.