The Flying Squirrels woes against the Altoona Curve continued on Wednesday night in extra innings. Curve first baseman Edwin Espinal blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning, completing a 2-1 Altoona win at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Richmond (45-63) fell to 3-14 against Altoona (60-49) on the year and have lost 12 consecutive games against the Curve. Steven Duggar extended his hitting streak to ten consecutive games with a pair of base hits in the loss. Preston Claiborne pitched well and hurled three scoreless innings in relief.
Starting pitchers Brandon Waddell and Sam Coonrod both looked good, but earned no-decisions in the extra inning affair. Coonrod worked around some early issues in the bottom of the first. Leadoff man Elvis Escobar worked the count full and concluded the at bat with a base hit. Coonrod then hit the next batter Eric wood, placing runners at first and second. The righty then stabilized his outing, inducing a pop up and a double play to end the inning. Coonrod needed 22 pitches to get through the first inning.
Waddell followed Coonrod’s example and also escaped trouble with double plays in the third and fourth innings. Richmond loaded the bases when Steven Duggar singled, Christian Arroyo doubled and C.J Hinojosa walked in the fourth. Chris Shaw then smacked a hard ground ball to second that resulted in a double play. Waddell danced around trouble again in the fourth. Brandon Bednar doubled into deep right center field, but was doubled off second base when Tyler Horan ripped a line out to center.
TheSquirrels finally emerged with a run off Waddell in the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. Steve Lerud opened the inning with a walk and moved to second on an infield, bunt base hit from Sam Coonrod. Steven Duggar then lofted a base hit – his second of the game- into left center field, loading the bases. Christian Arroyo managed to bring home Lerud by grounding into a double play. Waddell went on to retire the next seven hitters he faced.
Altoona struck for a run to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Third baseman Eric Wood blasted a triple into right center field and came around to score on Jin-De Jhang’s opposite field base hit. The single forced Coonrod from the game after 5 1/3 innings pitched. Tyler Mizenko entered and finished the inning by stranding a pair of runners. Coonrod allowed just the one run, on four hits in the no-decision. The righty walked two and struck out four on 102 pitches.
Waddell managed to navigate through traffic and was finished after seven innings pitcher. The former UVA standout allowed just the one run on seven hits in the no-decision. Waddell struck out six and walked three, while tossing 97 pitches.
The Squirrels bullpen was sharp and kept the contest tied, forcing the game into extra innings. Rodoldfo Martinez tossed a scoreless seventh and Chase Johsnon pitched the eighth. Manager Miguel Ojeda then turned to Preston Claiborne to push the game into extras. Claiborne was phenomenal in relief and twirled a season-high matching three scoreless innings.
Richmond emptied the ‘pen and used Christian Jones in the bottom of the 12th inning. Jones struck out the first hitter Jonathan Schwind but relinquished a game-winning home run to the next hitter Edwin Espinal. Jones (2-5) suffered the loss in the outing. Altoona’s John Kuchno (1-1) earned the win with three scoreless innings of relief.
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