Squirrels Lose Third Straight to Curve
EL Richmond Flying Squirrels

Squirrels Lose Third Straight to Curve

Published on September 4, 2025 under Eastern League (EL)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond Flying Squirrels fell behind early and lost to the Altoona Curve, 8-2, on Thursday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

The Flying Squirrels (51-75, 30-29) were handed their third straight loss in the series and fell to 5.5 games behind the first-place Curve (66-62, 36-24) with nine games remaining in the season.

The Curve scored their first two runs without a hit. In the first inning, Konnor Griffin was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a pair of groundouts and scored on a wild pitch by Flying Squirrels starter Trystan Vrieling (Loss, 1-3). In the second, Vrieling issued two walks and hit a batter to load the bases before hitting Griffin with a pitch to force home a run, opening a 2-0 Altoona lead.

In the third, Vrieling issued back-to-back walks to start the inning, setting up an RBI, ground-rule double by Omar Alfonzo, the Curve's first hit in the game, and a sacrifice fly by Javier Rivas to extend the lead to 4-0.

Vrieling allowed four runs over three innings with three hit batters and tied his career high with four walks.

In the top of the fourth inning, a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for the Flying Squirrels. Nate Furman scored on a wild pitch by Altoona starter Emmanuel Chapman to plate Richmond's first run of the game. Chapman struck out the next two batters to strand two runners in scoring position.

Altoona reliever Derek Diamond replaced Chapman with two outs in the fifth and a runner on first. After a single by Furman, Victor Bericoto drove singled to right, scoring Bo Davidson to cut the deficit to 4-2. Diamond struck out Scott Bandura and Richmond stranded two runners on base for the third straight inning.

Manuel Mercedes, making his first appearance for the Flying Squirrels since returning from High-A Eugene, retied all six batters he faced over the fourth and fifth innings and recorded three strikeouts.

Play was stopped in the top of the sixth inning for rain and resumed after a delay of two hours and 26 minutes.

In the bottom of the sixth, Javier Rivas hit a solo homer to left to extend the Altoona lead to 5-2.

Nick Cimillo drove a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to open an 8-2 Curve lead.

Curve reliever Michael Walsh (Win, 1-0) threw 2.1 scoreless innings after the rain delay and struck out four. Justin Meis worked around a walk in the ninth to post a scoreless inning and end the game.

The series continues on Friday night. Left-hander Jack Choate (4-5, 3.27) will start for Richmond opposed by Altoona left-hander Dominic Perachi (2-1, 5.79). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Following the road trip, the Flying Squirrels return home for the final homestand at The Diamond. Diamonds Aren't Forever: The Farewell Series presented by Richmond Times-Dispatch begins Tuesday, Sept. 9 with Time Capsule Tuesday presented by Reynolds Community College. Fans can submit proposals for items to be included in a time capsule that will be placed at CarMax Park. Submissions can be made online here. The first 1,500 fans on Sept. 9 will receive a Farewell Series T-shirt presented by Richmond Times-Dispatch and Reynolds Community College.

Tickets are on sale online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from September 4, 2025


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