With an offensive explosion fueled by three home runs, the Richmond Flying Squirrels took a 10-5 victory over the Harrisburg Senators on Wednesday night at FNB Field.
Seven of the 10 runs that the Flying Squirrels (18-11) scored came off home runs in their second consecutive win over the Senators (14-14).
Two home runs in the second inning propelled the Flying Squirrels to a 5-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Brandon Martorano rocketed a grand slam to right field and Jacob Heyward followed with a solo homer in the next at-bat.
Richmond piled three runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend their advantage to 8-0. Frankie Tostado bounced an RBI single to start the scoring train and Tyler Fitzgerald followed with an RBI triple against Senators starter Richard Guasch (Loss, 2-4). Harrisburg called in Francys Peguero to pitch and Shane Matheny brought Fitzgerald home with a single for the fourth hit in the inning.
Tostado tied career highs with four hits and three runs. Martorano tied a career-high four RBIs with his grand slam in the second inning.
Harrisburg collected its first runs of the series in the eighth inning when Jake Alu hit an RBI double and Wilson Garcia launched a two-run homer against John Russell to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Fitzgerald increased the Richmond lead to 10-3 with a two-run homer in the ninth inning. It was the first multi-hit game of the year for Fitzgerald with a season-high three RBIs.
In the ninth inning with two outs, Wilson Garcia reached on a fielding error that brought two runs home and moved the score to 10-5. R.J. Dabovich (Save, 2) entered with the bases loaded and induced a groundout to end the ballgame.
Gray Fenter fired in five strikeouts over 4.1 innings in his start and has not allowed a hit in back-to-back starts. Solomon Bates (Win, 4-0) entered the game in the fifth, stranding a runner at first and pitched 2.2 total innings with one hit and a walk allowed with three strikeouts.
Fenter and Bates took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before a two-out double by Jacob Rhinesmith.
Game three of the series is Thursday with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from FNB Field. Right-handed pitcher Matt Frisbee (0-2, 4.50) will take the hill for Richmond opposed by right-hander Cole Henry (0-0, 0.57) for Harrisburg,
The Flying Squirrels return home May 24-29 for a six-game series against the Hartford Yard Goats. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
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