(June 27, 2018) – The York Revolution climbed back from an early six-run deficit to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but dropped their second straight to the Long Island Ducks, 6-4 on Wednesday evening in front of 4,067 fans at Bethpage Ballpark. The Revs will go for a four-game series split on Thursday before returning home.
Long Island built a 6-0 lead through two innings, taking early control of the contest.
The Ducks grabbed a first inning lead as Jordany Valdespin led off with a double to right and scored on Travis Snider's one-out double down the right field line.
It was a five-run second inning that broke the game open, beginning with a line drive homer to left by Taylor Ard. Back-to-back singles from Daniel Fields and Audie Afenir set the table for Anthony Vega who ripped an RBI double down the right field line after a fake bunt. Valdespin picked up an RBI on an infield hit, Emilio Bonifacio drove in a run on a ground out to second, and Snider added his second RBI double on a shot to right-center, capping a five-run frame.
Revs pitchers allowed nothing the rest of the way. Starter Joe Van Meter (2-3) rebounded from the rocky opening to last 4.2 innings, working scoreless frames in the third and fourth while recording the first two outs in the fifth.
Zac Treece struck out Afenir to strand two runners in the fifth, before Luke Westphal, Ricardo Gomez, and Junior Rincon all fired scoreless frames.
Offensively, the Revs were stymied early by Ducks lefty Bennett Parry (5-0) who struck out two batters in each of the first five innings and took a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts into the sixth.
York rallied in the sixth as Welington Dotel reached on an infield single and Michael Burgess drew a one-out walk. Luis Cruz followed with an RBI double down the left field line and Ryan Dent added a sac fly to left. With two outs, Nick King sent an RBI single into right for his first Atlantic League hit and RBI, bringing York within 6-3.
The Revs were held scoreless by Wander Perez in the seventh and Colton Murray in the eighth as Long Island's setup relievers did their jobs.
Jared Mitchell worked a one-out walk off closer Francisco Rodriguez in the top of the ninth and advanced on a wild pitch. With two outs, Dotel lined an RBI single to right, plating Mitchell and cutting the deficit to 6-4. Rodriguez rebounded to strike out Melky Mesa looking to finish it off, notching his 12th Atlantic League save.
York lefty Robert Carson (4-2, 1.70) faces Long Island southpaw Jake Fisher (3-2, 3.35) on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 1350, woyk1350.com, The New WOYK app, & WOYK 1350 on YouTube beginning at 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
Notes: Westphal now owns scoreless streaks of 12.0 innings and 11 consecutive appearances, both season-bests for a Revs reliever. Gomez' appearance was the 302nd of his Atlantic League career and 180th of his Revs career; he ranks third in both league history and Revs history in that department, and his next appearance will tie Corey Thurman for second-most in Revs history (181). He now sits nine away from matching Ben Grezlovski for second in league history.
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