Arenado Takes Air Out of Ponies August Attack
RICHMOND, VA - Flying Squirrels infielder Jonah Arenado drove in a pair of runs, including the tiebreaking tally, to send Richmond past the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, 5-1, on Wednesday night at The Diamond. Richmond starter Conner Menez avoided harm despite issuing five walks to hand Binghamton just their second loss in seven games in August.
Arenado opened his big night at the plate in the fourth to put the Squirrels ahead for good. With two outs and a runner on second in a 1-1 game, the Squirrels corner infielder zipped Harol Gonzalez's two-strike pitch into the left-field alley for an RBI double. Arenado struck again in sixth, blasting a solo home run off reliever Daniel Zamora to stretch the Squirrels' lead.
Menez set the table several times for the Rumble Ponies, but Binghamton failed to deliver the knockout blow early. The southpaw walked three in the first inning, but escaped the jam unharmed. The Ponies filled the bases with one out in the third, but had to settle for just one run on Tomas Nido's sacrifice fly.
Menez settled in after his rocky start. After allowing six of the first 12 batters he faced to reach, the lefty retired eight of the last nine Ponies that strolled to the plate. Dillon McNamara followed Menez's lead and tossed three scoreless innings after taking over in the sixth. Sam Wolff closed the Squirrel's pitching tab with a perfect ninth inning.
Gonzalez (0-5) was touched for three runs on seven hits, including four for extra-bases, and suffered his fifth loss in as many starts with the Rumble Ponies.
The Rumble Ponies (54-61) conclude their series in Richmond on Thursday at 6:35 PM. RHP Mickey Jannis takes the hill against RHP Jack McCasland. The Horizons Federal Credit Union pregame show starts at 6:20 PM and can be heard on NewsRadio 1290 AM WNBF and the Binghamton Rumble Ponies channel on TuneIn.
POSTGAME NOTES: The Rumble Ponies pitching staff snapped a streak of seven straight games allowing two runs or fewer…the start of the game was delayed by 14 minutes due to rain…Binghamton stranded eight runners and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position