ALTOONA, Pa. – The Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Altoona Curve, 5-3, on Sunday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field to close a two-week road trip to Pennsylvania.
The Flying Squirrels (53-32, 10-7) split the six-game series with the Curve (38-49, 7-11).
Charlie Szykowny hit an RBI single in the first to open the scoring. Altoona answered with a sacrifice fly by Derek Berg to tie the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the first.
In the second, Jean Carlos Sio belted a two-run homer against Curve starter Connor Oliver (Loss, 2-2) to give the Flying Squirrels a 3-1 lead. It was Sio’s eighth Double-A homer since joining Richmond in June.
In the top of the fourth, Parks Harber hit an RBI double, one of his two hits on the day, to extend the lead to 4-2.
Trystan Vrieling (Win, 5-1) threw six innings, tied for his longest outing this year, and allowed one run and one hit.
Lonnie White Jr. hit a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to bring Altoona within two runs. In the top of the eighth, Zane Zielinski brought home Maui Ahuna with a bunt to extend the Richmond lead to 5-2.
After being held to two hits over the first seven innings, the Curve had three consecutive infield singles in the eighth, with the third bringing in a run on a Duce Gourson RBI to close the score to 5-3.
Cristian Alvarado (Save, 4) threw a 1-2-3 ninth and struck out two batters to finish the game. In his six appearances for the Flying Squirrels, Alvarado has thrown six scoreless innings and allowed two hits with 13 strikeouts.
The Flying Squirrels are off for the All-Star Break until Friday, when they will open a three-game series against the Erie SeaWolves through Sunday. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the CarMax Park ticket office. Ticket packages for the Flying Squirrels’ home playoff games at CarMax Park on sale now at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Playoffs.