The Richmond Flying Squirrels stranded the potential tying run at second base in the seventh and eighth innings, falling, 4-3, to the Portland Sea Dogs on Thursday at The Diamond.
Trailing, 4-2, in the bottom of the seventh, Bryce Johnson singled with two outs and later scored on a single by Johneshwy Fargas to trim Richmond’s (39-68, 16-24) deficit to one. After Ryan Howard drew a four-pitch walk from Portland (47-61, 20-21) starter Matthew Kent (Win, 5-3) to put runners on first and second, Jalen Miller grounded out to end the inning.
Jacob Heyward doubled to lead off the eighth inning but was stranded at second as the potential tying run.
Fargas mustered a one-out single against Jordan Weems (Save, 6) in the ninth, but Weems retired the next two batters to end the game.
The Sea Dogs scored in the first inning against Alfred Gutierrez (Loss, 6-5) to take a 1-0 lead. After Jarren Duran singled and stole second base, Bobby Dalbec drove an RBI single to right field.
The Flying Squirrels bounced back to tie the game in the second with three singles. Following back-to-back base hits by Jonah Arenado and Zach Houchins, Hamlet Marte ripped an RBI single to left field.
Gutierrez retired 10 batters in a row between the second and fifth innings, but yielded three runs in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Gutierrez threw a wild pitch to allow Duran to score from third and give Portland the lead. Following a pitching change, Luke Tendler bounced a two-run single through the right side against Raffi Vizcaino to extend the Sea Dogs’ advantage to 4-1.
Richmond chipped away with a run in the sixth when Arenado laced an RBI single to right field to bring in Miller. Arenado finished the game 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to six games.
The Flying Squirrels begin a three-game series against the Harrisburg Senators at FNB Field on Friday when right-hander Logan Webb (1-3, 2.27 ERA) is slated to face right-hander Tyler Mapes (4-5, 5.03 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and coverage begins with the Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup at 6:30 p.m. on Sports Radio 910 the Fan and 105.1 FM.
Following a seven-game road trip, the Flying Squirrels return to The Diamond on Friday, August 9 to a four-game, three-day series against the Bowie Baysox.
For tickets or more information, call 804-359-3866 (FUNN), visit SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets or stop by the Flying Squirrels box office.
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