(September 17, 2019 – York, Pa.): Henry Castillo tied the game with a dramatic two-run homer in the eighth and Melky Mesa delivered the walk-off single in the 10th as the York Revolution erased a five-run deficit, coming back to down the Long Island Ducks 7-6 on Tuesday night in front of 3,046 fans at PeoplesBank Park. The Revs improve to 73-62 overall and 39-26 in the second half as their first place lead in the Freedom Division grows to 4.5 games with five to play. York now holds a magic number of one to clinch a second half title and the eighth postseason berth in franchise history heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Ducks at 6:30 p.m.
Long Island’s offense got on the board early as they took a 1-0 lead thanks to a solo home run to left from L.J. Mazzilli in the top of the first.
Ducks starter Seth Simmons kept York’s offense quiet as he worked a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first.
Long Island’s offense stayed persistent in their half of the second. A solo home run to left from David Washington and a two-run home run to left from Daniel Fields pushed the Long Island lead to 4-0.
After a scoreless third inning, the Ducks added a run in the fourth on a bases loaded walk pushing their lead to 5-0.
York starter Jake Welch settled down in the fifth, working his first 1-2-3 inning of the game. The righty made it two consecutive scoreless frames when he kept the Ducks quiet in the top of the sixth inning as well.
The York offense finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. With Simmons lifted after five innings of one-hit ball, Alvaro Rondon drew a walk against Ducks reliever Brandon Beachy. Justin Trapp was hit by a Beachy curveball to set the table. Beachy drilled Welington Dotel with a fastball to load the bases with no outs. Carlos Franco came in to run at first base as Dotel had to leave with an apparent hand injury. With Telvin Nash at the plate, Rondon scored on a Beachy wild pitch to cut the lead to 5-1. Beachy then hit Nash, making him the third consecutive Rev plunked by Beachy, to reload the bases. Isaias Tejeda drew a walk to push home a run and slice the deficit to 5-2. After Mesa popped out, Castillo drilled a sacrifice fly to deep left to score Franco and close the gap to 5-3.
The Ducks answered with a run in the top of the seventh courtesy of a Deibinson Romero sacrifice fly, extending their lead to 6-3.
York wasted no time answering the run in the bottom of the seventh. Zach Sullivan took first on a dropped third strike and stole second. Sullivan advanced to third on a Rondon ground out and came into score on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 6-4.
Phil Walby worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth out of the Revs bullpen, and momentum shifted in a huge way in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mesa set the table by reaching on a one-out infield single. Castillo followed by blasting a game-tying two-run home run to right field deadlocking things at 6-6.
Jameson McGrane pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, retiring Washington on a fly out to left to leave the bases loaded and work around two-out trouble.
Rob Rogers kept the Revs scoreless in the bottom half of the ninth, retiring Nash on a double play grounder to force extra innings.
Josh Judy was called in to pitch the 10th for York. After Washington stole third, Judy induced a pop up and followed with a strike out to get the first two outs of the inning. Victor Capellan took the mound after Judy had to exit the game with an apparent injury on the strike out. Capellan forced Fields to ground out weakly to shortstop to end the inning, with Nash making a terrific tag at first base to deny the Ducks of an extra inning run.
Nash started on second in the bottom of the 10th. After an error by Frias put runners on first and third with no outs, Mesa drilled a walk-off single through the left side of the drawn-in infield to give York the 7-6 win.
Recap by Brett Pietrzak
Notes: The walk-off win is the third of the season for the Revs, all on singles. It is the second walk-off hit of Mesa’s Revs career. Castillo’s two-run homer is his second in the last four days with both either providing the winning margin or tying the game. It is the Revs’ 12th last at-bat victory of the season with six of those coming since August 25. York improves to 5-8 in extra innings while Long Island falls to 8-6 (2-2 head-to-head). York has won four straight against Long Island. The Revs will look to clinch their fifth second-half title in franchise history on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. It is a Kids Eat Free Wednesday presented by PeoplesBank. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Revs Ticket Office.
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