Fightins prevail 5-4 in Richmond

(Richmond, VA) - The Reading Fightin Phils (64-68) defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels (61-72) 5-4 on Tuesday night at The Diamond. Richmond rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Reading prevailed by scoring runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Both starting pitchers were perfect through the first three innings. The Fightin Phils would break through first against 'Squirrels starting pitcher Logan Webb in the top of the fourth inning. Darick Hall hit a RBI double to score Drew Stankiewicz and Jose Pujols hit a sacrifice fly to score Damek Tomscha to give the Fightins a 2-0 lead.
Reading added another run off Webb in the top of the fifth inning as Jiandido Tromp scored on a sacrifice bunt by Harold Arauz . Arauz left the game after six innings pitched as he gave up just five hits and issued two strikeouts.   Josh Tols entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning to pitch in relief.
The Flying Squirrels snapped their franchise-record 33 scoreless inning streak as they scored four runs off Tols to take a 4-3 lead. Jeff Arnold hit a three-run home run and Matt Lipka hit a go-ahead RBI single. Hall tied the game off Flying Squirrels relief pitcher Dusten Knight (4-1) in the top of the eighth inning as he hit a two-out RBI single to score Stankiewicz.
Reading took a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth inning as Deivi Grullon scored on a fielding error by center fielder Matt Lipka. Jeff Singer retired the side in the bottom of the ninth as he recorded two strikeouts. He's now 12-for-12 in save opportunities. Luke Leftwich (3-4) earned the win by pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
America's Classic Ballpark is proud to be a part of Pennsylvania's Americana Region. Individual and group tickets for the 2018 season are available online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person at FirstEnergy Stadium. Follow the Fightin Phils on Twitter at @ReadingFightins and like them on Facebook via www.facebook.com/fightins.