The Richmond Flying Squirrels (58-55) pounded out 16 hits and held off a late surge from Altoona (61-54) to avoid the series sweep in an 8-6 victory on Sunday night. Squirrels first baseman Juan Ciriaco collected three hits, drove in three runs and made a leaping grab to end the game to lead the charge. The win moved Richmond back to two games out of second place behind Altoona. The team will now head to Bowie to open a four game series against the Baysox on Monday.
The Squirrels utilized six pitchers to get the game to the finish line. Starting pitcher Joe Biagini lasted five innings to earn the win in his first start since being placed on the disabled list on August 1st. Biagini pitched to the first two batters in the fifth and allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts on 88 pitches. Pedro Rodriguez relieved Biagini in the sixth with runners on base and allowed a three run home run to Sebastian Valle to cut the Squirrels lead, 8-5. Rodriguez, Braulio Lara, Stephen Johnson, Phil McCormick and Tyler Mizenko pieced the final four innings together to preserve the win. Mizenko allowed a solo home run to Max Moroff in the ninth to make it an 8-6 affair, but then recorded the final three outs to earn the save.
Richmond opened up their largest lead of the series with a four-run top of the third inning. The Squirrels loaded the bases to open the frame and took a 3-1 lead on a ground out from Ciriaco. Eliezer Zambrano plated two more with a base hit to left field for a 5-1 advantage. Myles Schroder then delivered his second RBI hit of the night, a base hit to left field for a 6-1 edge. The Squirrels added a pair of runs for an 8-2 lead in the sixth inning. Rando Moreno and Austin Slater singled to being the rally and scored on consecutive singles from Engel Beltre and Ciriaco.
The Curve plated a run off Biagini in the second inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Jose Osuna single to open the inning and moved to third on a groundout and wild pitch. Osuna crossed the plate on the second wild pitch of the inning as a breaking ball kicked off the catcher Zambrano.
Myles Schroder led off the game with a solo home run against Starting pitcher Zack Dodson. Ciriaco made it a 2-0 advantage a few batters later with a base hit to left. Richmond collected four hits off Dodson in the first inning, double the amount of hits he allowed through seven innings the last time out against Richmond. Dodson was tagged with the loss, allowing six runs on 11 hits over five innings of work. It was a drastic turnaround for Dodson after he shutout the Squirrels over seven innings last in his last start against Richmond.
The Squirrels continue their seven game road trip on Monday with the first of four in Bowie, MD. LHP Kelvin Marte (9-3, 2.11) will start for the Squirrels against Bowie LHP Ariel Miranda (1-1, 1.72). First pitch is set for 7:05 PM with the Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup starting at 6:35 PM on Fox Sports 910 and FoxSportsRichmond.com.
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