Richmond’s Cory Craig was handed a big lead early Thursday night at Kelly Automotive Park.

He didn’t need it.

The RiverRats’ right-hander scattered seven singles and shut out the Butler BlueSox, 7-0. The loss snapped Butler’s three-game winning streak.

Craig threw 127 pitches — 76 for strikes — to toss a complete game, a rarity in the Prospect League.

“This was one of those nights where pitch count didn’t matter,” Richmond manager Tyler Lairson said. “This was Cory’s game. He wasn’t laboring out there.

“He wanted it (complete game), so I gave him a shot at it.”

The RiverRats were warming up no one in the bullpen as Craig took the mound for the bottom of the ninth. He had thrown 104 pitches by that point.

“My hat’s off to him,” BlueSox manager Jason Radwan said. “He got into a groove and we just couldn’t do much against him.”

Tyler Sullivan, Matt Hansen and David Marcus had two singles each for Butler, which slipped a game and a half behind Chillicothe in the East Division second-half standings. The BlueSox managed to get only three runners in scoring position all night while being blanked for just the second time all season.

Richmond entered the game with a .230 team batting average, but jumped on Butler starting pitcher Andre Jones for seven runs in the first three innings.

Brian Hakes belted a solo homer to left field to lead off the second inning. Cody Begovich drilled a three-run homer to right to cap a six-run third frame.

Hake and Begovich had combined for 245 at bats without a home run this season before connecting Thursday. Richmond had hit only six homers as a team this summer.

“We’ve got guys capable of hitting the ball out and those guys are two of them,” Lairson said. “The long ball just hadn’t been happening for us.

“This is probably the best all-around game we’ve played this season.”

Richmond won for just the fifth time in 17 games during the second half.

“That six-run inning early deflated us a bit,” Radwan said. “You’re always hopeful you can bounce back, but it’s tough when you have an inning like that happen against you early.”

Jon Laird (four innings) and David Stover (two) threw six scoreless frames out of the bullpen for Butler in Thursday’s loss.

Slippery Rock University pitcher Jon Anderson will take the mound against West Virginia tonight at Kelly Automotive Park as the BlueSox look to stay near the top of the standings.

“We’ve got two weeks left and we’re right there,” Radwan said. “We need to play good baseball. We play Chillicothe four more times, Champion City four more times, so we’ve got a chance to take care of business ourselves.

“We’ll see how it plays out. It’s going to come down to which team wants it the most.”

Richmond 016 000 000 — 7 11 1

BlueSox 000 000 000 — 0 7 0

W: Cory Craig 9IP (6K, 0BB). L: Andre Jones 3IP (1K, 2BB).

Richmond (5-12): Nick Moore 2B 1B, Aiden McMahan 2B 1B, Troy Paris 2B 1B, Joba Ferrell 2-1B 2-RBI, Brian Hakes HR 1B 2-RBI 2-R, Cody Begovich HR 3-RBI

BlueSox (12-7): Tyler Sullivan 2-1B, Matt Hansen 2-1B, David Marcus 2-1B, Allen Hooker 1B

Today: West Virginia at Butler