EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Flying Squirrels Game Notes vs Altoona

Published on August 15, 2015 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF) (60-58) vs. Altoona Curve (PIT) (62-57)

Saturday, August 15th -- 6:05 PM

The Diamond -- Richmond, VA

Game #119 - Home Game #63

Radio: Fox Sports 910 (5:35 PM) Internet: FoxSportsRichmond.com

Richmond RHP Joe Biagini (9-5, 2.37)

Altoona LHP Zack Dodson (5-10, 4.10)

Sunday, August 16th ALT 1:35 PM Richmond LHP Kelvin Marte (9-4, 2.53) vs. RHP Jason Creasy (8-7, 4.66)

Monday, August 17th OFF

TODAY'S FEED: Potbelly provides us with top of the line sandwiches tonight.

Giants update - 8-5 win over the Nationals last night. The team is 2.5 GB of the Dodgers for first place.

SERIES AT A GLANCE: In front of 9,071 fans, the Flying Squirrels captured a dramatic 5-4 walkoff victory over the Altoona Curve at The Diamond. This marks just the second game all season Richmond has won prior to trailing in it after the eighth inning (2-49). The other time was on May 28 against Harrisburg (3-2 win in 10 innings). Austin Slater worked a bases loaded walk to push across the winning run. With two outs in the ninth, pinch hitter Rando Moreno smacked an RBI single to right field and that scored brough the score to 4-4. It is the fifth walkoff win for the club at home this year. The Squirrels pitching staff fanned 12 batters as a whole, which is the most in a game since June 7 (14 hitters). This is Richmond's sixth and final series with the Curve during the regular season. Since the All-Star break in mid July, the Curve and Squirrels have collided 12 times and after this weekend it will become 14 meetings. This makes Altoona the most frequent opposition for the RVA in the post All-Star break schedule. The RVA is 10-8 against the Curve so far this season. The first series ended up being just two games due to a postponement. The Squirrels split those two games losing the second one 3-0, which was the start to the 15-game losing skid. The revenge came in early May (5/4-5/7) when the club swept Altoona on the road in four games. The first game of this series marked the conclusion of the long losing streak. These two squads waited nearly two months before they crossed paths again, which was right out of the gates after the All-Star break (7/16-7/19). They tangled in an epic five-game set and the Squirrels took three of these contest. Pitching coated this series as the five winning hurlers were all starters and they tossed a total of 30 innings and yielded only three earned runs. Then, Altoona swept Richmond in three games (7/27-7/29) and posted back-to-back shutout victories to conclude the series. It was the first time the Squirrels had been swept since early May (5/1-5/3 vs. New Britain). Richmond was held off the scoreboard from the eighth inning in game one of that series all the way until the fourth inning in the opener against the Binghamton Mets (7/27-7/30, 23.2 innings). The most recent series occurred just a week ago and the Curve won that battle two games to one (8/7-8/9). Richmond has been shutout by Altoona five times and the fifth time happened in game one of this set. Richmond has dropped 13 of their last 20 games and this includes a six game losing streak in late July.

MORE THAN JUST COLE: Hunter Cole has not played in a game since August 8th and was later placed on the disabled list on August 12th. The Squirrels have looked elsewhere for production and it has been a challenge to find any. Ricky Oropesa has played in five games since Cole last played and he is just 3-18 at the plate. Mitch Delfino is two for his last 20 at the dish from August 9th until now. Delfino does not have a hit in his last 16 at bats. Austin Slater has provided the bulk of the offense to fill the void temporarily left from Cole. Slater is on a six-game hitting streak and that started immediately after Cole was first taken out of the lineup (8/9). He also has five RBI's in his last five games while he just recorded two from July 25th to August 9th.

LOPSIDED: In the previous series, the Squirrels participated in four games with the Baysox that were each decided by four runs or more. The margins in two of the contests were separated by eight runs (11-3, Bowie win on 8/10 & 9-1 RVA win on 8/12). The starter pitchers ended up on the wrong side of the pillow throughout this series for Richmond. In total, they tossed 20 innings and allowed a collective 13 earned runs. Matt Lujan was the only starting hurler to document a shutout, but he only threw 64 pitches in a shortened 3.2 innings (first start off the DL). Matt Gage retired the first 11 batters he faced and ultimately fanned eight batters, however, he exited with the bases loaded. Braulio Lara came in and let up a hit, which meant those runs were charged to Gage. Kelvin Marte allowed a season high 11 hits and six earned runs in the opener of that series.

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM: Richmond has won just two road games in their last 12 attempts. These two wins have come in the most recent road trip. However, the offense has come in full force in these victories. The bottom of the order has contributed significantly. In Sunday's 8-6 win over Altoona, the 6-7-8 hitters went a combined 5-15 with five RBI's (Ciriaco, Galindo, Zambrano). Then in Wednesday 9-1 thrashing against Bowie, the 6-7-8-9 hitters provided the bulk of the workload (Harris, Beltre, Williams, Galindo). In total, they collected nine hits of the 13 hits, scored five times, and recorded four RBI's. Devin Harris posted just his second double in August and led the crew with three RBI's. All of them had multi-hit games. Engel Beltre is 6-10 in these two games and 1-16 in the other five games on this trip. The Squirrels put up 29 hits over those two contests (8/9, 8/12). In the five other games, Richmond tallied the same number, 29 hits.

UPCOMING HOMESTAND PROMOTIONS: (8/15) Superblast Saturday and 2nd Annual Guns & Hoses. (8/16) Tribute to the Toy Hall of Fame and Nutzy Bubbles Giveaway. (8/24) Williamsburg Community Night. (8/25) Fredericksburg Community Night. (8/26) Fleece Blanket Giveaway.

ALTOONA STARTING PITCHER: LHP Zack Dodson (5-10, 4.10)

Dodson will make his 23rd start this season and sixth against the Squirrels. In his first two starts against Richmond, he threw 12 innings total and surrendered three runs (4/13, 5/4). He then struggled in the third start on July 19 (5 IP, 9 H, 5 R). Dodson bounced back and tossed seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits against the Squirrels on July 29. Richmond got to Dodson really good in his last start on August 9 as he allowed 11 hits (one shy of season high) and six runs (four earned). The 25-year-old has given up the most hits on the team (136) and has logged the second most innings this year from an Altoona starter (131.2). He was a fourth-round selection of the Pirates in the 2009 MLB draft out of Medina Valley High School in Castroville, TX. Baseball America had rated him as a top-30 prospect in the Pirates' chain early in his career (#18 - 2010, #23 - 2011). However, he suffered a broken hand in the middle of the 2011 season that sidelined him for nearly two months. With the Curve last year, he made 24 appearances - 23 starts - and posted a 4-8 record and ERA of 4.62. More troubling however, was his contact rate, as he conceded a league average of .290 and allowed 139 hits in 122.2 innings. His BB:K ratio was also relatively poor as he walked 46 and struck out just 76.

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Eastern League Stories from August 15, 2015


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