(July 27, 2023 – Charleston, WV): The York Revolution closed the first leg of a 10-game road stretch with an 11-5 loss to the Charleston Dirty Birds on Thursday night at GoMart Ballpark. With the loss in the rubber match of the series, York falls into a three-way tie for first place at 10-5 in the second half.
The Dirty Birds jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, scoring on a two-out RBI single to center by Bobby Bradley and a two-run homer to left center off the bat of Juan Perez.
Richard Urena ripped a two-out RBI single to right in the top of the second to get the Revs on the board and brought York within a run two innings later when his grounder caromed off the third base bag for an RBI infield hit, slashing the deficit to 3-2.
Charleston responded as Diego Goris came home on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth which capitalized on a leadoff walk and a pair of stolen bases to make it 4-2.
York again inched closer as Troy Stokes Jr. drove an RBI double to the fence in right center in the top of the fifth, cutting the margin to 4-3.
The Dirty Birds took a stranglehold on the game, erupting for five runs in the bottom of the fifth with RBI singles from Perez and Goris, and a three-run homer to right center by Clayton Mehlbauer, ballooning the hosts’ lead to 9-3. Those five runs came against reliever Denson Hull, who had replaced starter Carlos Espinal in the previous inning after Espinal departed the game with an apparent blister on his pitching hand.
The Revs again drew closer with a pair of runs in the seventh as Trent Giambrone collected an RBI on a double that landed along the right field line after being lost in the twilight and a sac fly to right by Tomo Otosaka, bringing the Revs within 9-5.
Charleston closed the scoring in the eighth when Dwight Smith Jr. connected on a two-run homer to right center, the Dirty Birds’ third long ball of the night.
Espinal (6-3) was forced to depart due to the apparent blister after a shaky 3.2 innings, charged with four runs on three hits and five walks. He struck out five and struggled with a high pitch count of 95 total pitches.
Birds starter Joe Testa (7-2) won his sixth straight, limiting York to three runs over six innings to improve to 5-0 in July.
Revs rookie right-hander Nick Parker shined out of the York bullpen, striking out four and allowing just an infield hit in two innings in his second pro appearance. Parker struck out three-hole hitter Telvin Nash looking for his first career punch out, and struck out the side in the seventh.
The Revs close their season series at GoMart Ballpark with a 5-7 record, having dropped six of the final eight in Charleston. The Revs suffered just their second series loss in the last nine series with both occurring in Charleston over the last two weeks.
The road trip continues to Lexington on Friday night 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. with Darrell Henry on the call.
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