ALTOONA, Pa. – Sabin Ceballos homered twice and the Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Altoona Curve, 5-3, on Thursday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The Flying Squirrels (52-30, 9-5 second half) picked up their second win of the series against the Curve (36-48, 5-10).
Altoona opened a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Richmond starter Greg Farone (Win, 3-7) hit Duce Gourson with a pitch. Gourson stole second and third and scored on a single by Titus Dumitru.
Richmond tied the score with a solo homer by Jean Carlos Sio, his seventh at Double-A, in the top of the second inning.
In the top of the fourth, Ceballos hit a solo homer to left to give the Flying Squirrels a 2-1 lead against Curve starter Peyton Stumbo (Loss, 1-8).
Bo Davidson hit an RBI single in the top of the fifth to open a 3-1 lead.
Ceballos hit a second solo homer in the sixth, his 13th of the year and his third in the last two games, to extend the lead to 4-1.
Farone pitched five innings and allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts.
Manuel Mercedes entered in the sixth and recorded one out, allowing two runs on four hits to close the score to 4-3. Shane Rademacher replaced him and recorded two outs to strand the bases loaded.
In the top of the ninth, Diego Velasquez hit a two-out single to score Sio and extend the lead to 5-3.
Tyler Vogel (Save, 12) struck out two over the final two innings to reclaim sole possession of the Eastern League saves lead.
In his 12 games since the start of the second half, Ceballos has homered six times and picked up 12 RBIs, posting a .283 (13-for-46) batting average.
The series continues on Friday night. Left-hander Charlie McDaniel (2-0, 5.04) will start for Richmond opposed by Altoona right-hander Matt Ager (3-1, 4.40). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Following the road trip and the All-Star Break, the Flying Squirrels return to CarMax Park from July 17-26. 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.