(June 2, 2021 – York, Pa.): Bruce Bell cruised early on in his first start but a comeback bid fizzled late as the York Revolution fell to the Gastonia Honey Hunters, 7-3 on Wednesday evening at CaroMont Health Park. The Revs will look to avoid the sweep on Thursday before returning to Pennsylvania when they visit Lancaster this weekend.
Bell retired his first six batters and had the Honey Hunters 0-for-9 against him the first time through the order while his team went on top early, scoring single runs in the second and third innings for a 2-0 lead.
Rashad Crawford led off the second with a double down the right field line and moved to third on a Josh Vitters single before crossing the plate on a double play. Another leadoff knock set the stage in the third as Darian Sandford kicked off the inning with a rope up the middle and stole second before scoring on Melky Mesa’s double to deep left.
Gastonia responded in the home half of the third as Adrian Gomez reached on an error to begin the inning. After advancing on a ground out, Gomez took third on a balk and scored on a ground ball to short off the bat of Ermindo Escobar. Gastonia recorded its first hit off Bell when Jake Skole connected on a solo home run to right, the first in Honey Hunters history, tying the game at 2-2.
Joshua Sale homered to nearly the same spot in right field an inning later, tagging Bell with his first earned run allowed on the night as the only two hits allowed through four innings were both solo homers.
The Honey Hunters extended the lead in the fifth as Escobar bunted for a base hit in front of Skole who launched his second home run of the night on a two-run shot to right, making it 5-2.
Bell (0-1) allowed five runs, three earned in 5.1 innings of work, matching Opening Night starter Alex Sanabia for the Revs’ longest start of the young season.
Former Revs right-hander Jay Gause (1-1) settled in to work six innings and earn the win as his final three innings were scoreless.
York made noise in the seventh as Sandford walked and stole both second and third before scoring when Nellie Rodriguez hammered an RBI single off the left-center wall, making it a 5-3 game.
Gastonia pulled away, however, scoring a pair of runs in the eighth on a Gomez single and a wild pitch.
Sandford led the York attack with his first three-steal game of the season while going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, reaching safely four out of five times, and scoring two runs. He is 5-for-9 over his last three games, and now has a league-best five steals on the season and 206 in his Atlantic League career, fifth-most all-time and just six shy of moving all the way up to third on the all-time list.
Crawford (2-for-4) hit safely for the fourth straight game and collected his first multi-hit game. Carlos Castro went 2-for-4 with a double and is now 5-for-8 in the series. Rodriguez’ seventh inning single extended his season-opening hit streak to six consecutive games.
Sanabia (1-0, 3.38) faces RHP Jailen Peguero (0-0, 2.70) in Thursday’s series finale at 6:50 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and on the WOYK YouTube channel beginning at 6:30 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
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