EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

Published on May 4, 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)

May 4, 2011 -- 6:35 PM

New Britain Stadium

Game #26/Road #12

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TONIGHT: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and New Britain Rock Cats will meet in game three of a four-game series...Right-hander Bobby Lanigan tossed a season-long seven innings and limited the Flying Squirrels to just two runs as the Rock Cats evened the series with a 4-2 win over Richmond in game two of the set on Tuesday night in front of 3,604 fans at New Britain Stadium.

TONIGHT'S STARTERS: Left-hander Clayton Tanner gets the start in game three of the series 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.

Right-hander Steve Hirschfeld gets the nod in game three of the series for the Rock Cats...Making his fifth start of the season...Has allowed one run or less in three of his first four outings...Went a season-long seven innings in his last start 4/29 against Harrisburg, allowing one run on four hits while striking out a season-high seven batters and walking one...Lone win of the season came in his first start 4/10 at Richmond...Allowed one hit over five scoreless innings, striking out three batters and walking none...Has struck out 18 batters and has walked five in 22 innings of work...Opponents hitting .190 (15-for-79)...Went a combined 0-0 with a 5.63 ERA in 15 games, four starts, across four levels on the Twins farm system in 2010...Began the season with New Britain and was placed on the Disabled List 4/16/10 with shoulder stiffness after appearing in just three games out of the bullpen...Activated briefly 5/3/10 but did not appear in a game before going back on the DL 5/8/10...Activated and made a rehab appearances the GCL Twins and one with Advanced-A Ft. Myers 8/2/10, allowing three runs on three hits in two innings...Rejoined New Britain 8/3/10 and went 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in eight games, three starts (last three outings) in August...Allowed nine runs on 15 hits in 11 1/3 innings as a starter...Spent the entire 2009 season with Ft. Myers and went 7-7 with a 2.23 ERA in 32 games, including 17 starts...Struck out 86 and walked 31 in 117 innings while limiting batters to a .215 average against...Named a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star...Led the FSL in OBA and WHIP (1.06) and finished second in ERA...Spent the 2008 season with Low-A Beloit and posted a 10-5 record and a 3.30 ERA in 31 games, 16 starts...Struck out 80 batters and walked 38 in 109 innings...Named a Midwest League Mid-Season All-Star...Went 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA in eight games, six starts, with Rookie Elizabethton in his pro debut in 2007...Selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 9th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft...Attended San Diego State University...Transferred to SDSU from CC of Southern Nevada...Selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 25th round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, but did not sign...Selected by the Montreal Expos in the 29th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, but did not sign.

ROCK BOTTOM: The Flying Squirrels fell to a season-low, three-games under .500 with last 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 last 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 also have hit just .217 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 the pitching staff has logged a league-high 236 innings of work, 18 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 last 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.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from May 4, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central