(May 28, 2023 – Charleston, WV): Carlos Espinal was dominant in his first start as the York Revolution knocked off the Charleston Dirty Birds, 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at GoMart Ballpark.
Espinal (1-0) allowed just two hits over a career-high 5.1 shutout innings with just one walk and a career-high-tying seven strikeouts.
Revs catcher Ryan January kept things scoreless through three, pouncing on the rebound of a potential wild pitch and diving to tag out Yefri Perez attempting to score from third base for the final out of the inning, dashing a Charleston threat.
Jacob Rhinesmith hammered an opposite field homer to left center, his first of the season, to lead off the fourth and spot the Revs a 1-0 lead.
Trey Martin doubled down the left field line with two outs in the fourth and scored as Drew Mendoza lined a base hit to right, increasing the lead to 2-0.
The Revs padded the lead with a three-run sixth. Rhinesmith reached for the third time on the day as he was hit by a pitch to start the frame. Troy Stokes Jr. reached on an error to put two aboard, and with one out, Martin drove an RBI double to the gap in right center for a 3-0 lead. January tagged a two-out, two-run single to right and raced all the way to third on an error as the lead expanded to 5-0.
Espinal retired nine straight before issuing a one-out walk in the sixth. Tasker Strobel entered and retired Dwight Smith Jr. on a first pitch double play grounder to second base to end the inning and stranded two runners in a scoreless seventh.
Charleston made noise in the eighth, plating two runs on four hits to get back in the game. Revs lefty Derek Holland entered with the tying run at the plate and after jumping ahead of Justin O’Conner with an 0-2 count, was ejected by third base umpire Ronnie Withrow after a close pitch was ruled a ball. Blake Rogers was thrust into action early than anticipated, but finished the strikeout of O’Conner and handled a perfect ninth to record his fourth save.
The win is the fourth in the last five games and fifth in the last seven for the Revs who will go for a four-game series victory on Monday at 1:05 p.m. Revs righty Jorge Martinez (2-2, 6.75) faces Charleston left-hander Danny Wirchansky (1-1, 2.31) in the finale. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, and FloBaseball.TV beginning at 12:45 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
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