(May 29, 2018) — The York Revolution never trailed and finally pulled away late in the game to take down the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 8-5, Tuesday night at PeoplesBank Park. The game featured 27 hits, with 13 coming from the Revs.
The Revs were on the board just two batters into the game. Jared Mitchell tripled to lead off the bottom of the first off Blue Crabs starter Brandon Cumpton. Alexi Casilla was the next batter and singled to left field to drive in Mitchell. Casilla scored later in the inning on Zach Wilson’s sac fly, making it 2-0 Revs.
Ryan Dent connected on a solo homer to left-center field in the second to push the Revs’ lead to 3-0.
The Crabs got two runs back in the third off Revs starter Dominic Severino. Edwin Garcia plated a run on a sac fly and another scored on a wild pitch, bringing the score to 3-2.
Severino exited the game after just four innings, allowing two runs on six hits.
York gained some breathing room in the fifth when Casilla stroked a two-run homer to right field, his first of the season, to give the Revs a 5-2 lead.
But the Crabs answered with two more runs in the sixth when Austin Green laced a two-out, two-RBI double to left-center off Robert Carson, moving Southern Maryland within a run at 5-4.
After the Crabs tied to game at 5-5 in the top of the seventh on a Teodoro Martinez sac fly, it wasn’t long before the Revs retook the lead.
Melky Mesa brought home two runs on a single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh off Blue Crabs reliever Jason Creasy to give the Revs a 7-5 advantage after seven innings.
Southern Maryland threatened again, however, as singles from Frank Martinez and Devon Rodriguez put runners at first and third with nobody out in the eighth. York reliever Grant Sides struck out the next two batters and got the third to fly out to end the threat and hold the lead.
In the eighth, Dent blasted his second homer of the night, a solo shot over the Arch Nemesis to make it 8-5 Revs, as they held on to win by that score.
Junior Rincon locked down his fourth save of the season in the ninth, rolling a 6-4-3 double play to end it, with Dent starting the twin killing on a diving stop to his right.
Sides (1-0) earned the win for York after tossing 1.2 scoreless innings and Creasy (0-1) suffered the loss for Southern Maryland.
The Revs turned four double plays on the night for the second time this season en route to their fourth win in five games. Two of the double plays were of the strikeout-throw out variety thanks to Luis Cruz’s work behind the plate, holding the Crabs to 0-for-2 in stolen base attempts.
Welington Dotel extended his hitting streak to 11 games, while Dent became the third Rev with a multi-homer game this season (Wilson, Burgess) and took the team lead in dingers with six. Mesa recorded his seventh multi-hit game in just 12 games and Mitchell and Casilla each went 3-for-4, with Mitchell finishing a home run shy of the cycle.
The Revs (14-12) and Blue Crabs (10-18) play Game 2 of their series Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. on Baseball in Education Day. York righty Zac Grotz (1-0, 0.43) will oppose Southern Maryland lefty Drake Britton (2-1, 5.58). Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Revs Ticket Office.
Notes: The Revs improve to 3-0 on the season against the Blue Crabs. Dent's two-homer game is the third of his pro career and first since August 29, 2015 for the Tennessee Smokies (Chicago Cubs Double-A) in a game vs. Jacksonville; the other occurred in the New York-Penn League in 2008. Severino went shorter than five innings for the first time in six starts. Rincon's save opportunity was his first since May 11. Sides has multiple strikeouts in each of his last five appearances, totaling 11 in 6.0 innings on that stretch. The Revs have scored six or more in four of their last five games, totaling 33 runs in those five contests (6.6 per game). The Revs have belted 11 homers in the last five, and have notched double-digit hits in each of the last six games, batting .326 on that stretch. Mitchell has hit safely in five straight, and has four extra-base hits in his last three games. Casilla's three hits were a season-high and his three RBI marked his first multi-RBI performance of the year. Mesa is batting .444 (12-27) on a six-game streak. Dent is now tied for second in the league in homers, and is 10-for-25 (.400) on a seven-game hitting streak with four homers in his last four games (three in the last two contests). Rubi Silva is 11-for-24 (.458) on a six-game hitting streak.
Story by Michael Marcantonini
Broadcaster/Media Relations Asst.
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