RICHMOND, Va. (June 9, 2026) — The Senators and Flying Squirrels were locked in a scoreless tie through the first seven innings in the series opener at CarMax Park. Then, in the eighth against LHP Jack Choate (L, 5-1), two reached on a hit by pitch and Johnathon Thomas scored on a throwing error by the pitcher Choate on a pickoff attempt to take the 1-0 lead.
The Sens had only one hit through the first seven innings against the Squirrels' LHP Cesar Perdomo. The lefty was excellent, throwing seven scoreless frames and striking out 13. His 13 punchouts are the most by an opposing pitcher against Harrisburg since Reading's Jesse Biddle struck out 16 in 2013. Perdomo had retired the last 14 batters he faced.
Meanwhile, Senators pitching matched the lefty's scoreless frames.
LHP Jared Simpson, serving as the opener, threw a scoreless first inning.
Then RHP Kyle Luckham (W, 4-5) followed with six shutout innings, scattering five hits and striking out two. He walked none.
In the seventh, with the game still scoreless at the time, the Senators committed errors on the first two batters of the inning, but Luckham worked around the trouble to keep the shutout intact.
In the eighth, Choate hit the first batter, Max Romero Jr., and later hit Kervin Pichardo, too, to put men on first and second with one out. Johnathon Thomas pinch-ran for Romero at second.
Catching Choate's attention, the left-hander attempted a pickoff at second but sailed the throw into left-centerfield. Thomas scored without a play at the plate.
LHP Noah Dean held the lead with a one-two-three eighth inning.
RHP Holden Powell (S, 2) came on for the ninth. After striking out the first two hitters of the inning, Powell hit the next batter then surrendered an infield single that pushed the potential tying run into scoring position.
But Powell got ahead of Diego Velasquez 0-2, striking out the nine-place hitter to end the game.
Harrisburg's two hits came from TJ White, an opposite-field bloop single in the third inning of his Sens debut, and Cortland Lawson, who doubled to lead off the ninth.
The Senators are now tied for the Eastern League lead with five shutout wins on the season.
At a total time of 2:04, Tuesday night's game was the second-fastest nine-inning game of the season.
Harrisburg trails Richmond by 6.5 games for the first-half postseason spot in the Southwest Division with 11 games to play in the half. Game two of this series comes at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday with RHP Connor Van Scoyoc (5-1) scheduled for the start.