EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

Published on August 29, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS (71-63) VS. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS (68-65)

RHP JUSTIN FITZGERALD (8-9, 3.55) VS. LHP LOGAN DARNELL (1-0, 3.98)

August 29, 2011 -- 7:05 PM

The Diamond

Game #135/Home #68

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TONIGHT: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and New Britain Rock Cats will meet in the opener of a four-game series...The Akron Aeros scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning en route to a 5-2 win in the series finale on Sunday afternoon in front of 4,750 fans at Canal Park.

TONIGHT'S STARTERS: Right-hander Justin Fitzgerald will get the start in the series opener for the Flying Squirrels...Making his 26th start of the season and his third career start against the Rock Cats...Suffered the loss in his last outing 8/24 at Altoona...Allowed five runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings...Struck out five batters and walked one...Allowed four runs on three hits and a walk in the bottom of the seventh inning...Retired 18 of 20 batters after Brock Holt reached on a fielder's choice with no outs in the bottom of the first inning...Allowed the leadoff batter to reach in two of his seven innings on the mound (scored both times)...Recorded seven groundouts and six flyouts/popouts...Threw 86 pitches, 57 strikes...Threw 14 pitches or less in six of his seven innings on the mound...Threw 20 pitches in the first inning...Threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 27 batters he faced...Is 0-4 over his last four starts with a 4.50 ERA (14ER/24.1 IP) and opponents are batting .286 (28-for-98) against him over that span...Is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA (4ER/10 IP) in two starts against New Britain with four strikeouts and five walks...Rock Cats batters are hitting .306 (11-for-36) against him...Ranks ninth in the Eastern League with a 3.55 ERA...Named an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star...Spent the entire 2010 season with Advanced-A San Jose...First season as a starter after appearing exclusively in relief in his first two pro campaigns...Went 10-6 with a 3.45 ERA in 26 games, 25 starts...Struck out 116 batters and walked 46 in 146 innings...Ranked 4th in the California League in ERA (3.45), 3rd in opponent batting average (.258) and tied for 5th with 10 wins....Named a California League Mid-Season All-Star...Made three postseason starts with San Jose, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA (4R/18.2 IP)...Made 39 relief appearances with Low-A Augusta in 2009...Went 2-2 with a 3.70 ERA, striking out 63 and walking 27 in 56 innings...Made pro debut in 2008, going a combined 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in 17 appearances...Selected in the 11th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft...Attended the University of California Davis.

Left-hander Logan Darnell gets the nod in the series opener for the Rock Cats...Making his 25th start of the season and his fourth with New Britain...Receive a no-decision in his last outing 8/23 against Reading...Allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings...Struck out six batters and walked none...Has allowed two earned runs or less and has gone seven innings or more in two of his three starts in the Eastern League...Has struck out 16 batters and walked one in 20 1/3 innings with New Britain...Received from Advanced-A Fort Myers 8/11...Went 8-3 with a 4.17 ERA in 15 starts with the Miracle...Struck out 46 batters and walked 25 in 86 1/3 innings...Went 7-1 with a 2.82 ERA (21ER/67 IP) over his first 11 starts with Fort Myers...Was 1-2 with a 8.84 ERA (19ER/19.1 IP) over his final four starts with the Miracle including allowing 10 runs, nine earned, on 12 hits in four innings in his final start 8/5 at Bradenton...Promoted from Low-A Beloit 5/14...Began the 2011 season with Low-A Beloit and went 2-2 with a 3.78 ERA in six starts...Struck out 24 batters and walked eight in 33 1/3 innings...Limited opponents to a .192 (24-for-125) batting average against...Allowed two hits over eight scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks in his second start of the season 4/14 against Clinton...Made pro debut with Short Season-A Elizabethton in 2010...Went 2-3 with a 2.08 ERA in 11 appearances, five starts...Struck out 32 batters and walked six in 34 2/3 innings...Began the season in the bullpen and went 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA in six relief appearances...Made five straight starts from 8/6/10-8/27/10 and went 2-2 with a 1.44 ERA in his five starts...Made one start in the Appalachian League playoffs and suffered the loss in game two of the ALCS, allowing four runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out six batters and walking two...Selected by the Minnesota Twins in the sixth round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft...Attended the University of Kentucky...Went 10-9 with a 5.19 ERA in 42 games, 11 starts, over two seasons with the Wildcats, striking out 102 batters and walking 48...Went 5-3 with a 5.63 ERA in 14 games, 11 starts, with Kentucky last season with Kentucky, striking out 55 batters and walking 28 in 73 2/3 innings.

THE PLAYOFF RACE: The Flying Squirrels enter tonight's series opener with the New Britain Rock Cats trailing the Bowie Baysox by a 1 1/2 games for the Wild Card in the Western Division...The Baysox will play one fewer game (141) than the Flying Squirrels (142) this season...Bowie's magic number to eliminate Richmond is seven with eight games left in the season for both teams...Any combination of Baysox wins and Flying Squirrel losses that equal seven would eliminate the club from playoff contention...Richmond will need to finish two games better than Bowie over the final eight contests to overtake the Baysox for second place in the Western Division...The Flying Squirrels will play four of their final eight games against a team with a winning record (New Britain) while the Baysox have no games left against teams with winning records (Erie and Altoona)...Four of Bowie's final eight games are against Erie...The Harrisburg Senators magic number to eliminate the Flying Squirrels from winning the Western Division is three following Richmond's loss at Akron yesterday.

OFF DAY: The Flying Squirrels fell to 12-12 in day games and 11-11 in day games after night games with yesterday's 5-2 loss at Akron...The club has one more day game remaining on its schedule, 9/5 at Altoona...The Flying Squirrels dropped to 18-22 in series finales this season.

A-FORD-ABLE: Outfielder Darren Ford has posted a season-long six-game hit streak after going 1-for-3 yesterday...Over his last six games, the 25-year-old is 8-for-23 (.348) with a double, a RBI, four walks and three runs scored...The New Jersey-native matched a season-high and also tied his own franchise record by stealing three bases on Saturday night at Altoona...Ford is 6-for-9 in stolen base attempts since joining the Flying Squirrels 8/9.

SAN FRANCISCO: Outfielder Francisco Peguero went 3-for-4 yesterday with a double and a run scored...The 23-year-old has hits in each of his last five games, his seventh hit streak of five games or more in 63 games with the Flying Squirrels...His seven five-plus game hit streaks are tied with Roger Kieschnick for the team lead...Peguero is batting .545 (12-for-12) over his last five games with a double, a RBI, and four runs scored...He had hits in seven of Richmond's eight games on its most recent road trip, going 15-for-33 (.455) with two doubles, a home run, four RBIs, and six runs scored...Peguero's three-hit performance on Sunday was his seventh game with three hits or more since joining the Flying Squirrels 6/23...Only Charlie Culberson has as many three-plus hit games (7).

HOME AND AWAY: The Flying Squirrels are 43-24 overall at home - the best home record in the Eastern League - and they are the only team in the league with 40 or more wins at home...The club's 43 wins at home are tied with San Jose for the eighth-most of all of the full-season teams in MiLB...They are batting .261 in 67 games at The Diamond while averaging 4.52 runs per game at home (303R/67G)....Overall, the club is 28-39 on the road, and is batting .228 and averaging 3.49 runs per game (234R/67G) in 67 road contests...The team plays its final four games on the road.

PITCHING IN: The Flying Squirrels pitching staff leads the Eastern League with a 3.43 ERA through 134 games and has allowed a league-low 519 runs...Richmond's pitching staff has allowed two runs or less in 49 of its 134 games (37%)...Starting pitching has allowed three runs or less in 93 of the team's 134 games (69%) and the club is 63-30 in those contests.

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Eastern League Stories from August 29, 2011


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