Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Information: September 3, 2022
September 3, 2022 – Eastern League (EL) – Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release
YESTERDAY:
The Flying Squirrels beat the Harrisburg Senators, 4-2. Casey Schmitt hit a two-run double in the first and Bran-
don Martorano followed with an RBI single to open a 3-0 lead. Harrisburg broke the shutout in the sixth with a two-run homer by
Wilson Garcia, the only runs allowed over six innings by Landen Roupp, who finished the night with a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Schmitt picked up his third RBI with a double in the sixth to open a 4-2 lead. Clay Helvey worked through the seventh and eighth
with three strikeouts. Nick Avila picked up his first Double-A save with a scoreless ninth.
TODAY’S GAME:
The Flying Squirrels play the fifth of a six-game series against the Harrisburg Senators, Double-A affiliate of
the Washington Nationals. The Flying Squirrels won four-of-six in both series against the Senators in the first half, both in Har-
risburg. This series is the only trip to Richmond for the Senators this year.
TICKET PUNCHED:
The Flying Squirrels clinched the Eastern League Southwest Division First-Half title with a win on May 26
paired with a loss by the Akron RubberDucks against the Harrisburg Senators. Richmond finished the first half tied with Akron,
but held the tiebreaker with a 7-5 head-to-head record. The league adopted the split-season format in 2019. After playing a
full-season system last year, they returned to the split-season format this year. The Flying Squirrels will play in the Eastern
League playoffs for the third time in franchise history. In 2011, they swept the Senators in the division series before falling to the
Fisher Cats in the ELCS, three games to one. In 2014, they eliminated the RubberDucks in four games before being swept in the
championship series by the Binghamton Mets.
THE FLYING SQUIRRELS
have gone 19-35 in the second half. They are 13-27 in the last 40 games, including a season-high
six-game losing streak from July 14-23. The Flying Squirrels have won seven series, lost nine and split five this year. Richmond
hitters lead the league with 1,343 strikeouts and rank third with 150 homers. The Flying Squirrels are 32-28 at home this year.
Richmond is 25-24 in games decided by two-or-less runs.
THE SENATORS
are in last place in the Southwest Division in the second-half and last in the overall standings. After losing
eight-of-10 entering the series, the Senators have won two-of-four this week. Harrisburg’s roster includes six of MLB.com’s top-
30 Nationals prospects, including OF Robert Hassell III (No. 1), RHP Gerardo Carrillo (No. 14), OF Yasel Antuna (No. 19), LHP Jose
A. Ferrer (No. 23), RHP Zach Brzykcy (No. 24) and C Israel Pineda (No. 26).
FOR RICHMOND:
Left-hander Kyle Harrison makes his 16th Double-A start and his second against the Senators. Harrison last
pitched on Sunday afternoon in Akron and allowed two runs over five innings with seven strikeouts. He pitched in Harrisburg
on June 15 and worked six innings, allowing one unearned run with eight strikeouts. Overall this year, Harrison ranked first in
the minors in strikeout percentage (39.7), first in K/9 (14.74) and first in K-BB% (28.7). He is third in the minors this year with 167
strikeouts. Since the start of the 2021 season and his professional debut, he has recorded 324 strikeouts, the second-most in
the minors, trailing only 343 by Diamondbacks minor leaguer Brandon Pfaadt. Harrison was selected to represent the Giants
in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium on July 16. With his Flying Squirrels debut on May 27, he became
the youngest pitcher in team history. He also picked up the second-most strikeouts in a debut in franchise history with nine.
Harrison began the season with the High-A Eugene Emeralds, where he went 0-1 with a 1.55 ERA in seven starts. At the time of
his promotion to Richmond, Harrison ranked third in the Northwest League in ERA (1.55), second in strikeouts (59), third in BAA
(.179) and tied for fifth in WHIP (1.00). Harrison was selected in the third round (85th overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft by the Giants
out of De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif. He is currently rated by MLB.com as the Giants’ No. 2 prospect, No. 22-overall
prospect and the No. 1 LHP prospect. Baseball America ranks Harrison as the Giants’ No. 2 prospect, the No. 21-overall pros-
pect and the No. 1 LHP prospect. For more on Harrison, see page two.
FOR HARRISBURG:
Right-hander Jake Irvin makes his 13th Double-A start and second against the Flying Squirrels. Last time
out, he allowed two runs over five innings in a no-decision against the SeaWolves on Sunday. He faced Richmond in Harrisburg
on June 17 and allowed four runs in 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts in a loss. Irvin was selected in the fourth round by the
Nationals in 2018 out of Oklahoma University. He missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery late in 2020. Irvin
opened this season with High-A Wilmington and posted a 1.50 ERA in nine starts before being promoted to Double-A on June 2.
PACKING THE HOUSE:
This season, the Richmond Flying Squirrels are leading all of Double-A in average attendance (6,139)
and rank second in total attendance (356,083). Richmond is 15th of the 120 MiLB teams in average attendance. The 9,810 fans
at The Diamond on Opening Night and again on July 4 are the largest crowds in all of Double-A this year.
POWER SURGE:
The Richmond offense has hit 150 home runs this season, which is third in the Eastern League. On August 7 in
the 101st game of the season, Riley Mahan hit a grand slam to give the Flying Squirrels their 128th homer of the season, break-
ing the previous franchise record. Last year, the Flying Squirrels broke the team record for homers with 127 in just 113 games,
passing the previous record of 109 from 2013. This year, the Flying Squirrels are on pace to hit 167 home runs. Sean Roby is tied
for third in the league with 25 homers on the season, with 21 coming at The Diamond.
RELYING ON THE LONGBALL:
On the year, the Flying Squirrels have scored 258-of-their-571 runs on homers. At 45.18 percent,
they have the second-highest total of their runs scored on the year on homers in the Eastern League, trailing Somerset (48.62
percent, 300-of-617 runs). Will Wilson has picked up 94.4 percent (17-of-18) of his Double-A RBIs on home runs this year. Sean
Roby has driven in 65.5 percent (36-of-55) and Tyler Fitzgerald has 56.9 percent (33-of-58) of their RBIs on home runs.
CASEY AT THE BAT:
Infielder Casey Schmitt was promoted to Double-A Richmond on August 9. After going 0-for-3 in his
Double-A debut on August 10, Schmitt has hit .389 (28-for-72) with two homers, eight doubles, a triple and 13 RBIs in his last 18
games since August 11. Last Friday night in Akron, he collected three hits, including his first Double-A home run. On Thursday, he
homered twice and drove in four runs. On Friday, he collected three hits, including two doubles, and drove in three runs. In this
week’s series against the Senators, Schmitt is batting .500 (7-for-14) with two homers, three doubles, two walks and seven RBIs.
SMITH STREAKING:
Armani Smith is currently riding a 24-game on-base streak since July 29, which is tied for the longest
active streak in the Eastern League. It is also tied for the longest on-base streak for a Richmond player this year, even with a
24-game streak by Shane Matheny in May and June. During the streak, Smith is batting .261 (23-for-88) with three doubles, a
homer, seven RBIs and 16 walks.
FITZ ON FIRE:
Over his last 39 games since July 10, Tyler Fitzgerald has homered 11 times. He now has 21 homers this season,
which ranks as the second-most in a season in franchise history, one homer ahead of David Villar’s previous franchise record
of 20 set last year and trailing 25 by Sean Roby this year. Over his last 29 games since July 28, Fitzgerald is batting .307 (35-
for-114) with six homers, seven doubles, one triple and 23 RBIs, which has raised his season batting average from .194 to .226.
On August 20, Fitzgerald hit a solo homer in the first inning and added an inside-the-park homer in the seventh. Fitzgerald is
the third player in franchise history to hit an inside-the-park homer, joining Brandon Crawford (2010) and Tyler Graham (2014).
He was named Eastern League Player of the Week on August 22.
ROBUST:
Sean Roby hit his 21st homer of the year on July 4 against the Fightin Phils, moving him ahead of David Villar for the
most home runs in a season in Flying Squirrels franchise history. He added his 22nd homer on July 7 and his 23rd on July 9 be-
fore hitting the IL for two separate stretches. On Tuesday night in his first game at The Diamond since July 10, Roby hit his 24th
home run of the season. He went deep again with a solo homer on Wednesday night. Roby is tied for third in the EL this year
in homers. He has hit 21 homers at The Diamond this season, which is a new record for the most at home for a Flying Squirrels
player in franchise history, ahead of 10 by Adam Duvall in 2013. It is also a new franchise record for the most career homers at
The Diamond. He has also set the franchise record for the most multi-homer games in a season and a career with four.
SAY HEY:
Jacob Heyward is currently on a 19-game on-base streak since August 3. In that span, he is batting .241 (14-for-58)
with 13 walks. He has extended his career franchise record to 154 walks. Heyward has homered four times in his last 16 games,
giving him 30 for his Richmond career, which is tied for the second-most homers in franchise history with Jarrett Parker (2013-
14), trailing only 37 by Ricky Oropesa (2013-16).
IN THE LEAGUE LEADERS:
Sean Roby is third in homers (25) and eighth in SLG (.481). Mike Gigliotti is tied for sixth in stolen
bases (24). Tyler Fitzgerald is ninth in homers (21) and is seventh in runs scored (65). Ryan Walker is tied for seventh in games
pitched (41).
WHERE THE SENATORS RANK:
In the Eastern League, Jake Alu is seventh in doubles (25). Wilson Garcia is fifth in batting
average (.277), 10th in homers (20), ninth in RBIs (69), seventh in SLG (.484), tied for sixth in hits (110) and seventh in total bases
(192). Matt Brill is tied for sixth in saves (9) and Zach Brzykcy is tied for eighth (8).
PROSPECT WATCH:
The Flying Squirrels have six players ranked in Baseball America’s Top-30 Giants prospects, including
Kyle Harrison (2), Casey Schmitt (2), Vaun Brown (10), Ryan Murphy (15 – on IL), Will Wilson (22) and Ricardo Genoves (30).
Franklin Labour is rated by Baseball America as having the “Best Outfield Arm.” Harrison is rated by Baseball America as
having the “Best Slider” in the organization. Schmitt is listed as the “Best Defensive Infielder” and “Best Infield Arm.” MLB.com’s
Top-30 Giants prospect list includes Harrison (2), Schmitt (6), Murphy (15), Tristan Peters (21), Will Wilson (26) and Landen Roupp
(28). Harrison is Baseball America’s No. 20 overall prospect and MLB.com’s No. 22 overall prospect.
2022 FLYING SQUIRRELS
Overall Record ……………………….. 59-64
First Half ………………………………….. 40-29
Second Half ……………………………… 19-35
Home ……………………………………….. 32-28
Road ………………………………………….26-37
Place (EL Southwest) …………T-5th/-15.5
Streak …………………………………………… W2
Last 5 ……………………………………………. 2-3
Last 10 ………………………………………….. 4-6
HOME ATTENDANCE INFO
2022 Home Attendance …………356,083
Home Openings …………………………….58
Average Attendance ………………..6,139
RICHMOND vs. HARRISBURG
2022 vs. Harrisburg …………………..10-6
at Richmond ……………………………. 2-2
at Harrisburg …………………………….8-4
All-Time vs. Harrisburg …………… 98-99
at Richmond …………………………52-47
at Harrisburg ……………………….. 46-51
ON THE HOMESTAND
Games ……………………………………………… 4
Record ………………………………………….. 2-2
Batters
Batting Average ………….. .200 (28/125)
RISP …………………………………… .185 (7/34)
Runs/Runs Per Game ……………….17/4.3
Home Runs ……………………………………… 5
Pitchers
ERA …………………… 5.00 (20 ER/36.0 IP)
Starter W/L ……………………………………. 1-2
Starter ERA …………… 7.45 (16 ER/19.1 IP)
Reliever W/L ………………………………….. 1-0
Reliever ERA ………….2.16 (4 ER/16.2 IP)
Saves/Opps …………………………………….1/1
THIS DATE IN HISTORY
In 2014, the Flying Squirrels beat the
RubberDucks, 3-2, in 11 innings to
take Game 1 of the Western Division
Series. Angel Villalona hit a go-ahead
single in the top of the 11th. In 2016,
the Flying Squirrels scored five runs
in the bottom of the ninth to beat
the Curve, 7-3, capped by a walk-off
grand slam by Ryder Jones. In 2017,
Richmond beat Bowie, 6-5, on a walk-
off single by Rando Moreno.
Harrisburg Senators (48-75, 18-36) vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels (59-64, 19-35)
RHP Jake Irvin (0-4, 4.83) vs. LHP Kyle Harrison (4-2, 2.96)
Saturday, September 3, 2022
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