The Richmond Flying Squirrels had a late rally quieted and fell to the Akron RubberDucks, 5-2, on Wednesday night at Canal Park.
The Flying Squirrels (56-59, 16-30) brought the potential tying run to the batters box in the top of the night but the RubberDucks (66-50, 26-21) worked back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam.
Akron scored four runs in the third to take the lead. Jhonesky Noel hit a two-run double and Angel Martinez followed with a two-run homer to give the RubberDucks a 4-0 lead against Richmond starter Kai-Wei Teng (Loss, 5-10).
Jacob Heyward put the Flying Squirrels on the board in the top of the seventh with a solo homer, his eighth of the year. A second run scored in the inning when Tristan Peters was caught in a rundown attempting to steal second and Shane Matheny sprinted home to score and close the gap to 4-2.
Daniel Schneemann hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth to push Akron’s lead to 5-2 against reliever Ofelky Peralta.
Akron starter Tanner Burns (Win, 3-5) worked 5.2 scoreless innings and struck out six batters.
The Flying Squirrels put a pair of runners on base in the ninth with one out, but Brett Daniels struck out the final two batters to end the game.
The series continues on Thursday night at Canal Park. Right-hander Keaton Winn (1-0, 0.00) will start for Richmond in his second Double-A start. Right-hander Tanner Bibee (2-1, 1.44) will start for Akron. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
After this week’s road series, the Flying Squirrels return to The Diamond for a six-game series against the Harrisburg Senators, Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, from August 30-September 4. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
The Flying Squirrels will host their first playoff game since 2014 on Thursday, September 22 at The Diamond. Tickets for all potential playoff games in Richmond are on sale now at SquirrelsBaseball.com.
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Chris Graham
