RICHMOND, VA - The Erie SeaWolves (15-5, 51-37) brought out the offense early in the game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels (11-8, 54-33), and Erie starter Hayden Minton dominated his way through five innings. But despite sitting dormant in the early stages of the game, Richmond's offense sprung to life late, with seven runs in the final five innings en route to a 7-6 win to even the series at one game a piece on Saturday night.
Both starting pitchers traded scoreless first innings. In the second, EJ Exposito electrified the SeaWolves offense with a solo home run. It was his second home run in as many nights and his 16th long ball of the season. A leadoff walk in the third from Richmond starter Charlie McDaniel yielded the second Erie run of the night when Peyton Graham lifted a sacrifice fly out to the wall.
SeaWolves starter Hayden Minton authored his best start of his young Erie career. The right-hander completed five innings for the first time through his five starts. Minton struck out just two batters and allowed four hits but was masterful with runners on base, stranding all four that reached against him. Minton finished his night with five scoreless frames.
Offensively, the SeaWolves continued to add on in the sixth inning. Already up 2-0, a leadoff single from Graham set the table for the rest of the order. Justice Bigbie smashed a second straight base hit to move Graham up to third after he swiped second base. A dropped Max Burt pop-up in shallow center field from the young shortstop Gavin Kilen allowed Graham to score from third and gave Erie a 3-0 lead.
Against Johan Simon, Richmond responded for the first time of the night. The Flying Squirrels posted three runs to tie the game while sending nine hitters to the plate. The inning started with an infield error assessed to Burt. Dakota Jordan and Charlie Szykowny combining for back-to-back doubles did the bulk of the damage in the inning. A Ty Hanchey RBI single capped off the scoring.
Richmond added on yet another run in the seventh to break the deadlock, and the SeaWolves responded in turn in the eighth with one of their own. Down by two runs in the ninth. Peyton Graham delivered his 13th double of the season to tie the game at six and keep the game alive.
Wandisson Charles forced the game to extra innings out of the bullpen, but Erie couldn't score Bigbie from second base to take the lead. In the bottom of the tenth, Diego Velasquez delivered the game-winning hit to score Jean Carlos Sio from third. Richmond tied the series at one game apiece and snapped Erie's ten-game road winning streak.
The SeaWolves swiped nine bases throughout the course of the game and, in the process, set the single-season stolen base record for the club with 181 steals, surpassing the 1999 SeaWolves who stole 180 bags.
Erie finishes off the series tomorrow at 5:05 PM. A win would secure a 9-9 season series against the Flying Squirrels.
Single-game tickets, suites, picnics, The Club by Synchrony events, and Bud Light Party Deck groups are now available by visiting SeaWolves.com, calling 814-456-1300, or visiting the UPMC Park Box Office in person.