(July 21, 2024 – York, Pa.): The York Revolution fell short of their bid at a sweep on Sunday afternoon at WellSpan Park, as a ninth inning home run put the Lexington Legends in front, dealing the Revs an 8-6 defeat.
York got the scoring started in the first inning when Matt McDermott and David Washington pulled off a successful double steal. Washington broke for second, and McDermott swiped home on the throw. The Revs tried to pull of something similar with Jacob Rhinesmith at the plate, but Zander Wiel was caught between first and second base for the final out before Washington was able to cross the plate.
Revs starter Michael Horrell was sharp early, facing just one over the minimum through his first four innings. He allowed two baserunners but got an inning ending double play from JT Riddle in the second.
With the bases empty in the bottom of the third inning, York got three consecutive baserunners before Wiel launched a grand slam off the top of the Arch Nemesis to put the Revs up 5-0 early. It was Wiel’s second home run in as many games, and York’s second slam in as many games after Michael Berglund’s sixth inning blast on Saturday.
Pedro Gonzalez finally put Lexington on the board by ripping a solo home run to left center field to lead off the fifth inning.
In the sixth, Lexington strung together a two-out rally for three runs against Horrell. Kole Cottam knocked in a run on a groundout, Matt Botcher doubled home a run, and Gonzalez knocked in his second run in as many trips with a single. After Horrell walked Riddle, he was lifted for Denny Bentley with runners on the corners. Bentley came through, punching out Keenan O’Brien swinging to strand the tying and go-ahead runs on base, keeping York in front, 5-4.
Bentley returned to the mound in the seventh and registered four strikeouts in the inning. After Mikey Reynolds reached on a wild pitch on his third strike, Bentley fanned the next three to maintain the one-run lead while setting a franchise record for consecutive strikeouts in one outing by a reliever with five.
Offensively, York saw nine consecutive hitters retired by Lexington pitching before Rudy Martin Jr walked with two outs in the seventh. After stealing second base, Martin Jr scored on a base hit up the middle from Donovan Casey to add an insurance run, putting the Revs up 6-4.
Frankie Bartow got the first two outs in the eighth inning before issuing two consecutive walks. A broken bat RBI single by O’Brien brought the Legends within a run at 6-5. Matt Turner came on to relieve Bartow, striking out Reynolds to strand the tying run again.
York turned to Brett Schulze for the ninth inning, but the righty walked the first two batters he faced. Brady Whalen followed with a three-run blast to right field to put the Legends up 8-6.
York went down 1-2-3 in the ninth against Nick Gardewine and fell short of the sweep.
The Revs will look to bounce back in a big series at Lancaster beginning Tuesday when Ethan Lindow takes the ball against Lancaster starter Noah Bremer at 6:45 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 6:25 p.m.
Notes: Martin Jr stole his league leading 53rd base and is now two shy of tying Wilson Valdez and Darian Sandford for the franchise single season record of 55. Martin Jr and McDermott have now combined for 89 steals as a duo, passing Trey Martin and Tomo Otosaka in 2023 for the second most by a duo in a single season. York has now stolen 218 bases as a team this season, tying the 2009 Somerset Patriots for the sixth-most by a team in a single season in league history. Martin Jr’s steal also extended his franchise record consecutive stolen base streak to 30. Casey extended his on-base streak to 34 games, tying Chris Ashby for the third longest streak in franchise history. Wiel’s grand slam was York’s eighth slam as a team this season, adding to a franchise record.