(May 9, 2017 – Central Islip, NY): Travis Witherspoon’s sacrifice fly in the top of the tenth inning lifted the York Revolution to a 4-3 win over the Long Island Ducks on another frigid evening Tuesday night at Bethpage Ballpark. The win is the second straight for the Revs (8-10) who will go for the sweep at Long Island on Wednesday night.
Facing former National League Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne in the tenth, Ryan Dent worked a one-out walk and stole second base, forcing a throwing error by catcher Alex Burg which advanced him to third. Witherspoon then provided the game winner, elevating a fly ball to right as Dent raced home to beat Fehlandt Lentini’s throw to the plate.
Jarret Martin struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the tenth, and following a two-out walk, induced a ground ball fielder’s choice off the bat of Lentini to close it out with his first save.
Long Island tied the game with a run in the bottom of the ninth when Lentini led off with a double to center, just out of the reach of Witherspoon’s diving attempt. Delta Cleary, Jr. bunted Lentini to third, and Elmer Reyes singled into right, tying the game at 3-3 to force extras.
Led by Bryan Pounds’ two-run homer in the fourth, the Revs carried a 3-2 lead late into the game.
York scored in the top of the first on a Michael Burgess RBI single to right, with Long Island answering in the second on Giovanny Alfonzo’s RBI single to left, tying the game at 1-1.
Burgess walked to lead off the fourth, and one batter later, Pounds launched a towering two-run homer down the left field line for a 3-1 York lead.
Revs righty Steve Janas turned in a strong effort, and protected the lead in the fourth, retiring Dan Lyons on a clutch 6-4-3 double play after back-to-back singles had started the inning.
Long Island plated an unearned run in the fifth when Lentini reached on an error and came home on a Reyes sac fly, cutting York’s lead to 3-2. Janas ended up in a bases loaded jam following a pair of two-out walks and a hit batter, but retired Cody Puckett on a first-pitch fly out to end the threat, before concluding his outing with a quick 1-2-3 sixth.
Janas allowed just two runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings in the no-decision.
Michael Click struck out Cleary, Jr. for the first out in the seventh, and after a base hit by Reyes, lefty Chase Huchingson came on to retire Angelo Songco on a weak ground ball, and Marc Krauss on a strikeout.
Joe Van Meter handled a scoreless eighth inning and Luke Westphal (1-1) earned the win after allowing the tying run in the ninth, rebound to strike out Burg looking with two men on to force extras.
The Revs were silenced offensively after the Pounds homer until the tenth, held to only a ninth inning single by Isaias Tejeda after the fourth inning.
Notes: The Revs have sewn up their first road series win of the season and are going for their second sweep all-time at Bethpage Ballpark on Wednesday (swept a three-game series, July 18-20, 2014). York has won both games against the Ducks in New York after dropping all four at home last week. The Revs improve to 3-2 with one game remaining on their current road trip. York is 2-0 in extra-inning games, having won the opener of the road trip in ten innings at Somerset on Friday. Long Island falls to 1-7 at home, having dropped five straight. York righty Curtis Partch (0-2, 6.75) will face Long Island right-hander Tim Melville (0-2, 3.60) on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 1350, woyk1350.com, and on the WOYK app beginning at 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.