EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes May 5

Published on May 5, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS (11-14) VS. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS (13-10)

LHP CLAYTON TANNER (0-2, 5.40) VS. RHP STEVE HIRSCHFELD (1-0, 2.05)

LHP RYAN VERDUGO (1-0, 1.69) VS. RHP LIAM HENDRIKS (2-1, 3.43)

May 5, 2011 -- 10:35 AM

New Britain Stadium

Game #26&27/Road #12&13

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TODAY: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and New Britain Rock Cats will meet in a doubleheader to conclude a four-game series...The Flying Squirrels and Rock Cats were rained out on Wednesday night at New Britain Stadium, the second rain out of the season for Richmond (4/16 at Altoona).

TODAY'S STARTERS: Left-hander Clayton Tanner gets the start in game one of the doubleheader for the Flying Squirrels...Enters the season rated as the #30 prospect in the Giants farm system according to Baseball America...Received a no-decision in his last outing 4/29 at Bowie...Allowed five runs, three earned, on six hits in five innings...Struck out four batters and walked two...Faced three batters in the bottom of the sixth inning...Gave up a three-run homer to Caleb Joseph with no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning...Allowed the leadoff batter to reach in three of his six innings on the mound, scored twice...Recorded seven groundouts and three flyouts...Threw 86 pitches, 57 strikes...Threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 24 batters that he faced...Club fell to 0-4 in his four starts this season...Left-hand hitters are batting .389 (7-for-18) against him this season...Left-hand batters hit .190 (22-for-116) against him last season...Spent the entire 2010 season with Richmond and went 9-9 with a 3.68 ERA in 27 starts...Struck out 79 batters and walked 64 in 149 innings...Named an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star, but did not pitch in the game...Finished the season ninth in the EL in ERA...Member of the San Francisco Giants 40-man roster...Selected in the 3rd round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft.

Left-hander Ryan Verdugo gets the nod in game two of the doubleheader for the Flying Squirrels...Enters the 2011 season rated as the #25 prospect in the San Francisco Giants farm system according to Baseball America...Received a no-decision in his last outing 4/30 at Bowie...Allowed one run on six hits in five innings...Struck out four batters and walked three...Six hits allowed (all singles) were a career-high...Retired the leadoff batter in four of his five innings on the mound...Leadoff batter scored the only time he reached (bottom of the fourth)...Recorded eight flyouts and two groundouts...Threw 93 pitches, 53 strikes...Threw 53 pitches in the fourth and fifth innings combined...Threw five pitches or more to seven of the 23 batters he faced including four of the five in the fifth inning...Threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 23 batters that he faced...Game lasted 18 innings with the Flying Squirrels losing 3-2...Ranks sixth in the Eastern League with a 1.69 ERA...Went a combined 8-1 with a 1.87 ERA in 44 games, including one start, with Low-A Augusta and San Jose...Suffered the lone loss in his pro career 4/29/10 at Hagerstown...Pitched with Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League in 2010...Went 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA in seven starts while striking out 26 batters and walking 16...Began the 2009 season in Extended Spring Training...Went 4-0 with a 1.27 ERA in 23 games with the AZL Giants and Low-A Augusta...Selected in the 9th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft...Attended LSU and Skagit Valley (WA) College.

DOUBLEHEADER HISTORY IN THE HARDWARE CITY: The only true doubleheader the Flying Squirrels have played in their two-year franchise history occurred 4/27/10 in New Britain as the club swept a pair of games from the Rock Cats, 3-1 and 2-0...Richmond has completed a pair of suspended games followed by seven-inning contests 4/9/10 at Bowie and 8/26/10 at Altoona...The Flying Squirrels will play another doubleheader 8/23 to make up for a rainout 4/16 at Altoona.

ROCK BOTTOM: The Flying Squirrels fell to a season-low, three-games under .500 with Tuesday night's loss at New Britain...It is the third time this season that the club has reached three-games under...Richmond was most recently three-games under .500 at 10-13 following Sunday's loss at Bowie...The club has lost five of its last six games on the current road trip after winning five out of seven contests on the most recent homestand.

NO "O": The Flying Squirrels team batting average dipped to .220 after managing just five hits in Tuesday night's loss at New Britain...It is the second-lowest team batting average in all of MiLB, just ahead of the Syracuse Chiefs, Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, who have a .217 team batting average...The San Diego Padres have the second-lowest batting average, hitting .218 as a team...Six of Richmond's 11 position players are batting under .220 including three (Joe Koshansky, Roger Kieschnick, and Aaron Lowenstein) who are batting under .200.

FAST STARTS: The Flying Squirrels have scored first in each of their last seven games, including all five games on their current seven-game road trip...Richmond's record is just 3-4 over that stretch and is 1-4 currently on the road trip...Overall the club is 6-8 when scoring first.

JUSTIN TIME: Outfielder Justin Christian has hits in six of his last seven games including three multi-hit games and is batting .345 (10-for-29) over that stretch with two doubles, a home run, seven RBIs, and five runs scored...He has also walked six times while striking out four times...The 31-year-old is fifth in the Eastern League with eight stolen bases in eight attempts.

PITCHING IN: The Flying Squirrels pitching staff leads the Eastern League with a 2.94 ERA through 25 games...The club leads the league in staff ERA even though it has issued the most walks (84) and has allowed the more hits (223) than of any team in the circuit...Richmond ranks third in the league with 207 strikeouts and even with last night's rainout, the pitching staff has logged a league-high 236 innings of work, 9 2/3 more innings than the Trenton Thunder who ranks second in innings pitched.

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: Right-hander Justin Fitzgerald issued three walks Tuesday night, his third start with three or more walks...The 25-year-old has walked 15 batters in 23 2/3 innings, second-most in the Eastern League...He matched a career-high by walking five batters 4/28 against Trenton...In addition to walking three batters, Fitzgerald also threw three wild pitches - a season-high for a Flying Squirrels pitcher...It also matched a franchise record for most wild pitches in a game, tying Jake Stevens who threw three wild pitches 8/25/10 against Reading.

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Eastern League Stories from May 5, 2011


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