(June 15th, 2023 – York, Pa.): Carlos Espinal spun five scoreless frames and Jhon Nunez went 4-for-4 with three doubles and three RBI as the York Revolution won their fourth straight, completing a sweep of the Lancaster Barnstormers with a 5-3 win on Thursday evening at WellSpan Park. The Revs (26-16) increase their first place lead in the North Division to a season-high 1.5 games with the win and will welcome the division rival Long Island Ducks for a weekend series beginning Friday night.
The Revs took an early lead in the bottom of the second off of Lancaster reliever Brian Marconi who was forced to enter due to an injury to starter Jared Lakind after just 1.1 innings and four batters faced.
Nellie Rodriguez set things up by cracking his second triple of the season on a drive to deep right center. Jacob Rhinesmith was hit by a pitch, and both scored on a right-center field gapper by Nunez whose first double of the night gave the Revs a 2-0 lead.
York added on, scoring three runs in the fourth. Richard Urena led off with a homer to right center, his second in as many nights. Troy Stokes Jr. walked and Rhinesmith was hit by another pitch to set up first and second for Nunez who pounded a grounder down the left field line for another double, plating Stokes Jr. to make it 4-0 Revs. With runners at second and third and the infield in, Alexis Pantoja served a single into right field scoring Rhinesmith, increasing the lead to 5-0.
Espinal (3-1) pitched five scoreless innings, scattering five hits with just one walk and five strikeouts to earn the win.
York’s bullpen had logged 8.1 shutout frames over the previous three games and things got off to a good start as Denson Hull handled a scoreless sixth.
Lancaster managed a run in the seventh as Andretty Cordero popped a shallow sac fly to right off Will Carter with an inherited run scoring that was charged to Hull as the Revs had a misplay in the infield that resulted in a hit for Jack Conley who came around to score.
Andrew Gross had his streak of 10 consecutive scoreless outings come to an end as Lancaster plated two runs in the eighth, the first allowed by Gross since May 13. Singles from Trayvon Robinson and Marshall Rich got things started before both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. A soft ground ball to third by Joseph Carpenter brought home Robinson. Another wild pitch put runners at second and third, and an RBI infield hit by Jake Hoover plated Rich to cut the Revs’ lead to 5-3.
With the tying runners on base, lefty Tasker Strobel came into the game and got Yeison Coca to fly out to right field for the second out. Strobel won a full count battle against leadoff man Melvin Mercedes who flied out weakly to right as Strobel put out the fire and kept the lead intact.
Closer Victor Capellan was reached for two singles in the ninth, but got Carpenter looking to end the game, securing his eighth save of the year.
Lancaster stranded a pair of runners in each of the final three innings and 12 total runners for the game, going 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Notes: The sweep is the fourth of the year for the Revs and third at home. York is now 14-3 in games decided by two runs or fewer. The Revs improve to 14-6 at home, having won nine of their last 10 at WellSpan Park. York’s 26-16 record is tied with the 2016 squad for the best mark in franchise history through 42 games. The Revs are 16-4 in their last 20 games. The four-game winning streak is the Revs’ third streak of at least four consecutive wins this season. York posted double digit hits for the 13th time in the last 15 games. York has won four straight games vs. Lancaster, improving to 6-3 in this year’s War of the Roses series. Starting for the first time since 2017, Espinal has gone at least five innings in all four starts and has held the opposition scoreless in two of those four. Capellan has gone six straight scoreless outings with four saves during that span since moving back into the closer’s role; the save is the 120th of his career, 30th in the Atlantic League, and 10th of his Revs career. Nunez tied a career-high with four hits, notching the Revs’ seventh four-hit game by a batter this season and third in the last five games. Nunez’ three doubles tie a Revs single-game record for the 12th time and first time since Stokes Jr. did it in a game last August. Nunez’ three RBI tied his season-best. He is now 14-for-32 (.438) over his last nine. York played errorless ball for a season-high fourth consecutive game. Revs righty Jorge Martinez (2-2, 7.75) faces Long Island lefty Ian Clarkin (2-1, 4.54) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. It is Girl Scout Sleepover Night and Engineering Night. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
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