JT Quinn kept finding the pitch Chesapeake needed Friday night, turning aside Richmond for five scoreless innings and escaping the game’s biggest jam with a double play. The Baysox never found the hit he needed in return.
Gavin Kilen’s solo home run in the sixth inning supplied the only run in Richmond’s 1-0 victory at CarMax Park, wasting Quinn’s sharp start and leaving Chesapeake to reckon with two outs on the bases in a four-hit shutout.
The first came before Quinn had thrown a pitch.
Griff O’Ferrall opened the game with a walk and tagged from third when Ethan Anderson sent a high fly toward right field. Lisbel Diaz made the catch a few steps from the warning track, and O’Ferrall broke for home. Diaz’s throw arrived on a hop, and catcher Jancel Villarroel applied the tag in time to complete a bang-bang double play.
It was Chesapeake’s best early chance against Jacob Bresnahan, and it grew more costly with every zero Bresnahan added to the scoreboard.
The Baysox collected singles from Frederick Bencosme in the second and Dom Keegan in the fourth, but neither advanced beyond first. O’Ferrall lined Chesapeake’s third hit into left field with one out in the sixth, only for Bresnahan to retire Vance Honeycutt and Anderson behind him.
Quinn had already done his part. The right-hander allowed Richmond to put three runners aboard in the third, with Dayson Croes walking to load the bases for Kilen. Quinn induced a ground ball to O’Ferrall, starting an inning-ending double play that preserved the scoreless tie.
He followed by working around a leadoff walk in the fourth and retiring Richmond in order in the fifth. Quinn finished with five scoreless innings, three strikeouts and two walks.
That left Brandon Downer to make his Double-A debut in the sixth. Downer retired Croes before Kilen drove a knee-high changeup toward right-center field. Bencosme retreated to the fence, but the ball carried over the Richmond bullpen — 398 feet at 102 mph off the bat — for Kilen’s second home run and a 1-0 lead.
Downer walked the next two batters but kept the deficit there, getting Diaz on a fly ball and Sió on a sharp liner to second. He then retired the side in order in the seventh, finishing two innings with one earned run allowed and one strikeout.
Chesapeake’s best chance to answer disappeared just as quickly. Aloy ripped a ball into center with one out in the seventh and kept running as Trevor Cohen charged it cleanly. Cohen’s throw reached Maui Ahuna, whose relay to Kilen beat Aloy’s headfirst bid at second.
The single became an out, erasing the Baysox’s fourth and final hit.
Bresnahan completed seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out seven. Mitch White handled the eighth, working around a hit batter, before Tyler Vogel issued a one-out walk to Anderson in the ninth. Keegan flied to center, and Ahuna forced Anderson at second on Aloy’s grounder to secure Vogel’s 16th save.
Micah Ashman kept Chesapeake within one run in the eighth, striking out Kilen and Sabin Ceballos after a leadoff single. He finished the scoreless inning with two strikeouts and no walks.
O’Ferrall went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, while Keegan, Aloy and Bencosme supplied Chesapeake’s other hits. None became a run, leaving Quinn’s five scoreless innings as the defining performance in a game the Baysox let slip away at the plate and on the basepaths.