Two Ceballos homers propel Squirrels over Curve
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.
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.
Sio later! 💪
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 9, 2026
Jean Carlos gets us on the board to tie things up in the second inning! pic.twitter.com/D472hf8O3o
Richmond tied the score with a solo homer by Jean Carlos Sio, his seventh at Double-A, in the top of the second inning.
Back-to-back nights with a bomb for Sabin Ceballos! 💣 pic.twitter.com/W68BVXmMo7
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 9, 2026
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 finds some green 👌 pic.twitter.com/RjyKopXKMu
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 9, 2026
Bo Davidson hit an RBI single in the top of the fifth to open a 3-1 lead.
SECOND-HALF SABIIIIIIIN 💥 pic.twitter.com/HZXmI8l33J
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 9, 2026
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.
Diego Velasquez comes through with some clutch insurance! pic.twitter.com/R6vi7T5jHx
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 10, 2026
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.