(September 6, 2023 – Waldorf, Md.):  The York Revolution clawed back late but dropped their second straight to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 5-4 on Wednesday evening at Regency Furniture Stadium. The Revs fall two games behind the Crabs for second place as Southern Maryland now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker having won the season series, and York slips to three games behind Lancaster for first place with 11 to play.

After being shut out the night before, the Revs jumped to a quick lead in the top of the first as Tomo Otosaka and Troy Stokes Jr. led off with singles. With runners at the corners, Stokes Jr. stole second base on a strikeout. That set up a pair of run-scoring plays as Jhon Nunez ripped an RBI grounder to first and reached on an error, driving in the Revs’ first run of the game in the first inning, doing so for his third consecutive start. Down two strikes, Trey Martin hammered an RBI single to left to make it a 2-0 lead.

Southern Maryland responded with three in the bottom half. Jack Sundberg led off his second straight game with a double and scored on Braxton Lee’s single to center. Two batters later, Jimmy Kerrigan lined a two-run homer to left for a 3-2 Blue Crabs lead on his seventh home run in his last seven games played.

York forced Southern Maryland starter Liam O’Sullivan to throw 32 pitches in the first inning, but O’Sullivan (10-7) only allowed one hit the rest of the night, a two-out single to Drew Mendoza in the fifth, going six strong innings for the win.

The Blue Crabs added runs, scoring in the third on three consecutive two-out seeing eye singles with Alex Crosby driving in a run to make it 4-2.

Crosby added an RBI double to deep right in the bottom of the fifth on a play that was nearly caught by Martin crashing into the right field fence as the Blue Crabs led 5-2.

York chipped away in the late innings, scoring runs in the seventh and eighth.

Jacob Rhinesmith led off the seventh with a base hit to right center and scored from first on Alexis Pantoja’s double down the right field line, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

Nunez greeted setup man Andre Scrubb with a first pitch homer to left in the top of the eighth, bringing the Revs within a run on his 10^th long ball of the year. Martin reached on a strikeout wild pitch, took second on his 39^th steal of the year, and advanced to third on a ground out by Richard Urena. Scrubb struck out the next two batters, however, keeping Southern Maryland in front as the Revs failed to get a runner home from third with less than two outs for the second consecutive inning.

Pantoja led off the ninth with a single to center against closer Bruce Rondon, but the game ended on back-to-back bullets as Tomo Otosaka lined into a double play at first base, and Stokes Jr. ripped a 109 mile per hour liner that was snared at third base for the final out.

York’s bullpen was strong in keeping the game close as Emilker Guzman retired the side in order in the sixth, Jhon Vargas posted five outs in his debut with three strikeouts, and Will Carter netted a strikeout to end the eighth.

The Revs play the final road game of the regular season on Thursday, looking to avoid a sweep against the Blue Crabs. Pedro Vasquez (8-3, 6.05) faces lefty McKenzie Mills (4-3, 7.03) at 6:35 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and FloBaseball.TV beginning at 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.

Roster Moves: York acquired RHP Jhon Vargas from Tri-City (Frontier League) for a player to be named later. The 26-year-old righty pitched for Revs manager Rick Forney in Winnipeg as a rookie in 2022 and went 8-5 with a 3.73 ERA as a starter for Tri-City this season. York placed backup catcher Al Reda on the inactive list to open a roster spot.

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